Siblings
by AbandonedJay
Summary: What if Julian Bashir had a little sister, Lizza? What if the wizarding world is out of hiding? War darkens DS9's doorstep, and the siblings will have to fight for their honor, friends, loves, and galaxy as the door is answered. But something bigger than the Dominion is threatening the already fragile peace. With odd friends, and a little luck, can they survive the costs of war?
1. A Game of Wizard's Chess

**Jayfeattheris Awesome: I did not write this. My bestie, Amberstar of Thunderclan, did. I just let her use this slot and replace A Lightwing Guide because A( A guide is a bit much for a fandom that only exists in my head, and that was a bit TOO much, and B( Bother her and I are expirienceing technical difficulties; whenever we try to make a new story, the page goes blank after we hit the next button after selecting a catagory fot a new fic. Does anybody know what the heck that is, or how to fix it? That would be really, great, thanks. **

** Now, without further ado, here's Amberstar.**

**Okay, so here we are; a re-write of chapter one. The original was terrible because A: it was a NaNoWriMo challenge, and B:I was really nervous when I wrote it, because before then, I had never written ANYTHING nerdier or more stupid-sounding in my ENTIRE LIFE. But, now that I'm a little more calmed down, and that I've settled into the fact that my head-fandom is now public, I've started writing better, and the chapters keep on getting longer. **

** I will eventually re-write ALL of the super-bad early chapters, it's a work in progress, so please, do exuse the bad-quality writing that you see up until about... chapter ten, I think? Maybe even after that? But don't worry; the writing will get better as you go along, so just bear with me here, and suck it up until I can re-make decent versions of AT LEAST chapters 2-4. I decided to focus on chapter one first, because, naturally, it is the first thing everybody sees when they get onto this fic.**

** And I know, from my own experiences as a fanfiction critic, that the first chapter is the only chance you have to make a REAL impression on the readers; if they don't like what they see, they'll disregard your fic as lame and move on.**

** Also, for the purposes of this fic, Julian is two years younger than he actually is. So he's 25 at the moment, don't ask me why; it was kind of a "spur of the moment" decision. And Lizza is 19.**

** With the best hopes for the future of this fic, Amberstar of Thunderclan.**

**Lost, Missing, Found**

** . I s . O n .**

The Wizarding World is out of hiding. Julian Bashir's little sister, Lizza, begins the next step in her training to become an Beyonding-Class Auror. And then disaster strikes. Presumed dead, Lizza is thrown into the nightmarish corner of the galaxy known as the Gamma Quadrant, where escaping a Dominion prison camp is easier said than done. Meanwhile, Julian attempts to grow closer to the girl of his dreams(to much teasing from Garak), finally starting to recover from his grief. Then Lizza's patronus arrives...and everything changes.

~ **Earth Year- September 7th, 2369 ~**

** 7.5 Star-Date Years Until Expatriation Event…**

Julian was talking about science again. Whenever this happened, Garak found it best to just smile and nod occasionally.

Now, he was, by no means uneducated, of course; the Obsidian Order had provided a fairly wide-range of education. But he was, by no mean, an expert or a total genius, like Julian Bashir was. He had only a vague knowledge of some of the things his friend went on about sometimes, when the topic of their weekly conversations turned from politics to science.

_Friend? Since when did that happen?_ He mused absentmindedly as Julian went on about some sort of complex medical procedure, the name of which Garak couldn't pronounce. He had, recently, found that over the past year, he was beginning to make the biggest mistake an operative could make; he had actually begun to think of the doctor as a friend.

He had chosen Julian Bashir for a reason; he was perfect. High in the station hierarchy, hyper-active and chatty, and naive enough to let information slip. He had, naturally, been the best person to approach for Garak's purposes.

Julian's excitement at meeting him somewhat helped in securing their fake friendship, though Garak hadn't counted on rumors about his true purposes to have spread so quickly. It had become somewhat of an inside joke between the two of them.

He had yet to slip on something important regarding Starfleet's inner workings, but Garak was always careful to pay attention, just in case he did. He honestly didn't know when he had started looking forwards to his conversations with Julian; perhaps it had been a month ago, when he had found himself, deep in the monotony of running his shop, glancing many an impatient glance at his clock, and the odd sort of relief he had felt when lunch time had finally arrived. He had spent _that _particular meal complaining profusely about the behavior of that day's costumers.

Hopefully, soon, the doctor would let slip some information that would be sure to secure his return to cardassia.

Meanwhile, he had decided that until such a time, he really didn't care if he had come to think of the doctor as a friend. And when that time came… well, that was what betrayal was for. He probably wouldn't feel too bad about _that_, either. One tended to feel that way after having a previous career made up of betraying people on a daily basis.

"…and then, there's the trick of making sure that the marrow structure remains the same, because if it doesn't, well, things tend to get ugly, you know what I mean?" Julian continued rapidly. True to his protocol, Garak nodded and smiled. _No, I really don't know what you mean._ His thoughts contradicted.

Suddenly, glancing over Julian's shoulder, he noticed a young woman staring at them a short distance away. She was tall, with shoulder-length black hair, and shockingly bright green eyes. Her facial features were sharp and sleek, like a movie star's, and her lanky, skinny body stood with a certain..._attitude_, was the only word he could think of.

There was a mischievous look on her face, which also had a child-like quality to it; so much so, he could assume she was fairly young, eighteen, or maybe twenty, perhaps. She was certainly old enough to be in Starfleet; otherwise, she wouldn't have been wearing a yellow and black uniform, meaning she was either an engineer, or a security officer.

The uniform itself was slightly different from what he had seen of Starfleet uniforms so far. He couldn't tell from here, but it looked as if her comm badge was a different color as well; red and silver, maybe? With a hint of black?

Suddenly, her eyes locked with his. A teasing smirk played across her face, and she put a finger to her lips, signaling for him to be quiet. Garak considered his options for a few moments. On one hand , she could be an undercover Obsidian Order agent, signaling him for some sort of operation in which to redeem himself.

One the other hand, based off her stance, the grin on her face, and the way she seemed to be singling out Julian, she could very well be just another mischievous young officer who was keen on pulling some act of mischief or the other. It had happened before, a few weeks ago; a young engineer had thought it funny to launch his mashed potatoes into Julian's hair with a spoon trebuchet. Pranking the Senior Staff, it seemed, was somewhat of a sport within the ranks of the younger officers.

However, before he could decide (It was really a lucky convenience that Julian was so busy talking, he hadn't noticed that Garak's attentions were directed somewhere else), the young woman was making her way over to their table with an over-exaggerated "I-am-sneaking" movement, the grin on her face broadening. Garak relaxed. _Mischievous young officer, it is then._

He also decided that he was now in a good enough mood to allow this prank, whatever it was, to happen; anything to get Julian to stop talking about science, really. Nodding and smiling was starting to get boring.

The young officer crept right up behind Julian, adapting a look that bordered on both ridiculous, and maniacal. Garak forced himself to keep a straight face, looking bordly at the doctor and he talked on and on, completely oblivious. Now that she was closer, Garak noticed that she had a small backpack slung over on her back, and that, strangely enough, there were no pips on her color, as if she had no rank at all.

"…so_ I'm_ thinking, that if I can somehow get the riboflavin to—"

The woman slapped her hands down on his shoulders. "BOO!" She yelled. Julian practically jumped out of his skin, and he fell out of his chair as he jumped, twisting to try and see who his "attacker" was. Garak, trying to seem as dignified as possible, bit the inside of his lip to keep himself from laughing. It was _certainly_ not proper for _any _member of the Obsidian Order to _laugh _at something as ridiculous and childish as _this_. _Most improper, indeed!_ He mused. It was terribly hard to resist, though.

Of course, his amusement at what had transpired was soon replace by curiosity at what Julian said next.

"Lizza!" he shouted angrily, though the anger sounded half-hearted, "What have I told you about that? Why do you always do _that_?"

_Now _this_ is certainly interesting._ So Doctor Bashir knew this woman, who was now standing cheerily with her hands folded behind her back.

"You told me to not do it, and I do it because it's funny, and to add on to the former answer, I think we both know I disregarded your request." She piped cheerfully. This spiked Garak's interest even further; her accent was not dissimilar to Julian's though it was a bit more pronounced.

Julian heaved himself to his feet, making it so that Garak could now see the peeved look on his face. "Lizza's" smile didn't diminish at Julian's frown. In fact, it seemed to grow more and more cocky with each passing second. After a few moments of staring each other down, Julian crossed his arms over his chest seriously and spoke.

"You brought the goods?" he asked. Garak's eyes narrowed. Was he witnessing some kind of joke, or was something more going on here?

"You know I did." Lizza told him, crossing her own arms as well. "I've been practicing as well. Have you?"

"Oh, don't you worry; I'll be beating you_ flat_ this time."

"Hmm? _Really_ now? Isn't that what you said last time? And the time before that? And the time before _that_, even?"

"Pft, _no_."

"Pft, _yes_."

"Oh _really_?"

"_Yes _really."

"Well, we'll see who's talking after the carnage is over, _shall we_?"

"Yes, _we shall_! And the one who'll be talking; it's going to be _me_. _AGAIN_!"

Garak looked at them back and forth as they argued. What the heck were they talking about? He cleared his throat, letting them know he still existed. Their heads snapped around to look at him in an oddly cute way. Julian seemed to do a sort of mental fumble, as if suddenly realizing he had forgotten to introduce them.

"Oh, Lizza, this is Garak, one of my new friends on the station." He told the woman, who gave Garak the tiniest of nods, and a two-fingered "I'm-cool-and-you-know-it" salute. "Garak, this is Lizza, my sister."

It took a few seconds for him to register what Julian had just told him. _He has a _sister!? He tried to remember if Julian had ever mentioned her. He vaguely recalled the name popping up… actually quite a few times, actually. He decided to blame his habit of over-observation. Whenever he wasn't the one talking, he would often find himself doing an extensive analysis of his surroundings; which tended to result in him not hearing what he was being told.

He imagined himself banging his head against a brick wall, seeing as he couldn't physically do so.

"Ah, yes. I've heard about you; it's good to finally put a face to the name." he lied. It was all he could do to protect his pride and act like he knew what he was talking about.

"Right. Oh, and the rules; my name is _Lizza_, got that? No calling me 'Lizzy', or 'Lizz', or 'Elizabeth', or 'Ella', or 'Elly', or 'Beth', because 'Beth' sounds just plain stupid. There will be no vocal or visual support shown for the Chudley Cannons (goodness knows why they're still even around), the Appleby Arrows, the Sweetwater All-Stars, or the Quiberon Quafflepunchers; got that?" Lizza listed, giving him an intense look as she began bashing the Quidditch teams. _If I followed Quidditch, I think I would be terrified right now._

As it happened, though, Garak did _not_ follow Quidditch, much unlike the rest of the Alpha Quadrant. When the wizarding world had come out of hiding, a few short years after first contact, Quidditch had been quick to rise to the top of the sports universe, taking hold of every civilization that the humans visited, enrapturing the citizens with its prestige. It had even become popular in cardassia; and as a race that took everything, especially its competitions, seriously, cardassia had produced teams that could play against the Klingons (which was really saying something).

Cardassians didn't do a half job when it came to winning, and, as such, the teams would go to extreme lengths to win; even hiring several bajoran players during the occupation. They had even made it to the last Galactic Cup a few years ago, or so he had heard. Of course, he had been busy on Romulus during the galactic cup. And boy, had he seen some weird things during that particular operation. He had _actually_ seen a group of vulcans and romulans (getting along for once, probably because of the game) _yelling_; yes, _vulcans_ **_yelling_**, at the holographic projection of the qualifier game between the klingons and the breen.

All-in-all, the pressures and high-emotions of Quidditch had never really appealed to him.

"So, what is it, might I ask, that you are arguing about?" he inquired. He really needed to know if there was something weird or possibly illegal going on here; though Julian didn't _look_ like that kind of person, he had been wrong before.

"Oh, we were just discussing how I'm about to _beat him to a pulp_ in wizard's chess." The explained triumphantly, as if she had already won. The two siblings glared at each other in an "it-is-ON" kind of way.

He looked between the two of them. He had played chess before(the only Earth game other than quidditch that cardassians really aproved of-or enjoyed, for that matter), but he had never witnessed anyone being this serous about winning. He had also rarely seen anyone play wizard's chess; for obvious reasons, of course. He was a muggle, and though both worlds mixed quite a lot these days, there still many wizarding traditions that stuck strictly with wizards.

Now that he thought about it, was Lizza a witch? He took a moment to examine her quickly; he comm badge was definably weird; it was sleeker and thinner than Julian's, with a russet arrow on a gold background, rather than gold on silver, and it had a sleek, black shape running under the russet arrow, much like a ring around a planet. And now that she was closer, he could also notice that the sleeve of her right arm was slightly shorter than that of her left.

It had a loose, flapping strap attached to the cuff, and a button meant for said strap was placed just below her elbow. Aside from that, the cuff was also rimmed with a dark brown trimming, much unlike a normal Starfleet uniform. In addition to this, there was a kind of leather belt around her waist, which had hadn't noticed before; it had some sort of holster on either side of it, and there appeared to be some kind of badge clipped onto a small, leather pouch attached beside one of the holsters.

He couldn't quite make out the badge all too well. If he wanted to get a better look without looking conspicuous, he would have to get her to move a little more.

"Well, certainly don't let me stop you." He told them with a grin. Lizza and Julian ceased their pre-game glare, ending it with a hard handshake.

"Bring it on." Lizza said challengingly, sliding the backpack off her arms and slamming it onto the table. Garak jerked his food out of the way before the impact (not that he particularly cared for it all that much at this point; cracking Lizza Bashir's character was much more interesting). She took her brother's plate off the table, and-literally-threw it into the nearest trash can. Garak raised his eyebrows. _Quite the impressive aim, then._ He thought.

Julian gawked at her for a moment before responding, Lizza zipping open the bag and pulling out a rather handsome-looking leather case.

"On it, I shall bring!" he shot back, as his sister pulled up a chair, stealing it from one of the other nearby tables. He moved his chair so that he sat directly across her, and sat down angrily, fixing her with an intense, competitive glare. Garak couldn't help giving him a look.

"Doctor, that doesn't make any sense." He told him witheringly.

"Garak," Lizza told him seriously, slapping a small, faser-pistol-sized device down on the table beside the chess box,"nothing bout us makes any sense."

As he looked at her confusedly, she slid the backpack off of the table, and lifted the top off of the box. Carefully, her brother lifted the contents out; a full chess board with all of it's pieces already set. Lizza removed the box and set it down on the floor next to the now-empty backpack.

Julian set the chess board down between them; Lizza didn't object when he set it so that his were the white pieces. Lizza flicked a switch on the device she had brought out. Hand still on it, she looked up at her brother. Garak now had a front-row-seat to what was sure to be an interesting competition. He breifly wondered, "_What might I have just gotten myself into?_" before deciding that his sibling rivalry couldn't-and wouldn't- be able to affect him in the slightest.

"You ready to lose, Jul?" Lizza asked intensly, eyes narrowed. Julian's jaw twitched at the nickname.

"Bring it on..._Beth_." he shot back. _Oh, dear... what _have I gotten myself into?

"Let it begin." Lizza declared simply, flicking on the device.

_Immigration Song _blared on, making nearby lunch-eaters jump.

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"Knight to E5." Lizza commanded. Her black horse moved forwards, then reared and kicked Julian's pawn off the board, shattering it in two.

Julian collected the broken piece with a scowl. He twirled his wand, as looked at the board thoughtfully. The game had, at this point, been going on for about an hour; way past time for Garak to return to his shop, but he really didn't care at this point. Lizza had declared a check in her last turn.

The device that Lizza was playing her music on, the PMD (Pocket Music Device), was now playing a song that, according to Lizza, was called _T.N.T_, by some old Earth band called _AD/CD_, or something like that. From what he had gathered from this game, was that she was a good tactician, and good at bluffing.

She looked over the board with intelligent eyes before each move, most of which usually didn't seem to take her long to decide upon. In fact, her every movement, on the chess board, and within her physical self, seemed to be influenced by the beat of whatever song the PMD was playing. Julian, however, took longer in his decisions; in fact, by Garak's estimations, over half the time they had been here had been spent watching him decide what to do next.

The music that Lizza seemed to find strength in, seemed to be a horrible destraction to her brother. This, Garak, had noticed, was probably(from what he had observed from the game, and from what he had gathered from their pre-game taunting) why Lizza had been able to beat Julian as frequently as she seemed to have. While her actions(and, perhaps, her thoughts), ran as fast as the music she was playing, Julian, though seeming to enjoy the music itself, looked as though he were constantly trying to deliberately go against the beat as much as possible.

It was a clever distraction strategy that Lizza had implemented; one that Julian might not even notice. He guessed, though he was no neurologist, that the distraction was subconscious, as he himself was experiencing the desire to_ resist tapping his foot as an instinctual reaction to the rythm_.

"Castle to E5." Julian finally ordered. _About time_

"You have about as much sense as a cave troll, you egg yolk!" grumbled his piece as it moved forward.

Garak couldn't help the snicker that escaped him(because let's face it; it _was_ pretty funny), but managed to regain his nonchalant mask as Julian whipped his head around to glare at him.

"Please; do continue." he insisted plainly. He now saw exactly what Lizza had been doing.

"Bishop to A4" she commanded lazily.

Julian stared at the board blankly as pieces of his king were scattered to the other end of the promenade.

"Best 2 out of three?" Lizza inquired with mock sypathy. Julian let out a heavy sigh and sat back in his seat.

"No. My lunch break was over a while ago." he said mournfully.

"Oh, well. I'm sure Commander Sisko would understand. I had to steal you for a reason, you know." Lizza shrugged, grinning at him and turning of her PMD.

"A very well played game, have to say." Garak commented, nodding to Lizza."I can see right now that I might just have to play against you."

"That depends." Lizza said slyly, grinning."Are you a worthy opponenet?"

He opened his mouth, clever retort at the ready, but Julian interrupted him before he could speak.

"No! No, sorry; as much as I would _love _to see you two duke it out, Sisko _will_ kill me if I'm any more late than I already am." He protested, hands raised defensivly.

"Well, you don't have to watch. Marina's busy helping Cheif Cortez prep the _Centurion_, and Wilark gave me the day off for training. I've got six more hours of shore leave to kill, and I still feel like beating people on the board." she explained, waving her hand to indicate the chess board, which more or less now resembled a battlefield.

Julian rolled his eyes, and got up, stretching, before walking off, presumably to find the scattered pieces of his material. Lizza made an odd little twitching motion with her right wrist, and a wand seemed to shoot up out of her sleave and into her grasp. Garak's eyeborws arched high up. _Well, _that's _something new._

"_Repairo_." she said casually, pointing her wand at one of her broken pawns. Her pieces allready seemed to trust her, and weren't glareing at her the way Julian's had. Garak ran through verious scenarios in his mind, wondering how best to initiate a conversation.

"Well, I've certainly never seen someone's wand shoot out of their sleeve before." he commented. From what he had seen of her, it seemed like the best way to talk to her.

"Well, it's this new holster thing they're testing. My mentor, Wilark; he doesn't like them. Think's that they're clunky." she told him, shrugging.

"Mentor? So you're in some sort of training program?" he inquired.

"Yeah. The A.A.T.P., for Beyonder Class." she said proudly, lifting her chin. At Garak's cunfused look, she added,"You know? Accelerated Auror Trainging Program?"

"No, really; I don't." he told her wryly. He felt a shiver slip down his spine. _An Auror in training? I'll have to be more careful about what I say around her._ So, that explained her odd uniform, and quite possibly the badge as well.

"Okay!" came Julian's voice as he returned to their table, cradleing many shards of broken white chess pieces."So, good to see you haven't killed each other yet. All is well, yeah?"

"Oh, yes, I prefer to kill people on the battlefield; not at the dinner table. That would just be plain rude." Lizza announced forlornly, indicateing the chess board. Julian rolled his eyes, and muttered_ repairo _under his breath. No sooner were the first chess pieces whole again, than they were compaining loudly about how much of an idiot Julian was.

Garak, feeling a bit more open than usual for some reason, gave his friend a puppy-dog look of mock sypathy. The doctor stuck his tongue out at him.

"Oh, bug off, Garak!" he said dejectedly.

"Nope!" the cardassian anwswered cheerily. Julian rolled his eyes, and Lizza gave the tailor a thumbs up of approval.

"I'm not sure if I should leave you two alone together; the Alpha Quadrant can only take so much sarcasm before the economy collapses." Doctor Bashir said solomny, looking at the two of them worriedly.

"Don't worry, Julian." Lizza comforted, touching her brother's hand with her own, and speaking with a motherly softness,"One game of chess isn't going to crash the economy."

"Unless, of course, we decide to play chess with starships; _that _would ruin the economy." Garak piped helpfully. He didn't know what was coming over him; for some reason, it appeared as if Julian's childishness had rubbed off on him somehow. He hadn't partaken in sarcastic banter for... well, he didn't know how long; but it had been a while, and he certainly didn't remember feeling this disgustingly cheerfull while he had last done it.

"You _really_ aren't helping your case." Julian said worriedly, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Look, dude," Lizza told him,"I'll meet up with you a bit before the _Centurion_ leaves; depending on how long it takes to beat Garak in several rounds of chess, that is."

Julian frowned at her, and Garak felt a pulse of aprehesnsion go through him. Several _rounds?! I have a shop to run! I can't play for several rounds!_ Come to think of it, when had he decided on playing _at all_? Hadn't he meant the comment about playing Lizza as sarcastic?

_Well, it _has_ been a while since I've played a game of tactics..._ And Lizza seemed like a decent enough opponent;perhaps even bored with winning against her easily-hoodwinked brother.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later then." Julian shrugged, looking at his wristwatch. He paused for a moment, before stooping down and taking Lizza's backpack.

"Oi! Just what do you think _your_ doing?" she protested as he made off with her bag. He shot her a grin over his shoulder.

"Why, dear sister, I'm ensuring your return! Just think of it as incentive to_ actually_ come and visit me before you leave." He teased. Lizza jerked back in her seat, clutching a hand to her heart with and expression of mock hurt.

"Why,_ Julian_! When have I _ever _taken off without saying goodbye?" she exclaimed. The doctor rolled his eyes, turning away.

"Since your fourth year at Hogwarts." He called as he left. His form dissolved into the daily crowd of people, bustling along the promenade on various errands.

Now alone with Lizza, Garak wondered what in the galaxy had possessed him to agree to this game as the young woman adopted a malicious grin worthy of a homicidal psychopath.

"Right then." She said, rubbing her hands together. "White or black?"

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Julian put up the last of the equipment, after having completed a rather successful knee surgery (how _anybody _could have gotten a Lego brick lodged that deep in their skin, he had no idea). Looking at the infirmary clock, he saw that it was only 5:67. _One more hour to go until Lizza has to leave._

He glanced at the entrance anxiously, hoping childishly that she would waltz on in right at that moment, declaring either victory or defeat against Garak. Her backpack lay near the entryway, awaiting its owner.

The ship that Lizza was assigned to, the _USS Centurion_, was going on a 3-month-long expedition into the Gamma Quadrant, to map out new systems far out in the deep space between the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. It would be a long assignment, but his sister had been ecstatic to tell him about it.

It would be her first test in the field as a Beyonder-in-training. Beyonders were Aurors who were typically assigned to exploration expeditions, Deep Space Stations, and various trade routs, protecting the explorers, or working alongside other Aurors in the pursuit of Dark Wizards suspected of fleeing into deep space.

It was a broad job description, and as such, the Beyonder Class Aurors were the most elite of them all. Only the_ best_ recruits made it through the training program, and more

more recruits washed out of the Beyonder Course than any other. Add _that_ to the fact they had put his sister into the A.A.T.P., he was surprised that she hadn't broken under the stress already.

_I guess her enthusiasm makes up for the stress._ He thought as he started stacking data pads, though so mentally distracted that he kept mixing them up, accidentally placing a pad regarding somebodies dental exam in with a stack recording the day's minor mishaps(a stubbed toe, a bad finger cut, a thumbtack impaling somebodies heel, among other things).

Over-enthusiasm was a family special, as far as him and Lizza were concerned. After giving up on his dream of becoming a professional tennis player (he had feared that there was too much risk of over-preforming and revealing his engineering by accident), he had studied with a passion, raging to get through medical school and go to Starfleet. He had absolutely stank at the physical fitness part of Starfleet basic training, but they had decided that his skill as a doctor made up for it.

He had only been a recruit, fresh out of medical school and half a month through his Starfleet training, when the entire galaxy had gone into a state of panic. The instructors had burst into the classroom, just as the teacher had been explaining the varying effects of neuro-shock, and started yelling orders at the recruits and their teacher.

The borg attack had shaken everybody, though none so more than Lizza; when a borg ship had broken Earth's defense, it had desended upon the Starfleet Academy, damaged, and had crashed through the Medical Wing, where Julian had been learning about neuro-shock just hours before. Himself and the other newer recruits, who had been ordered to take shelter, had felt the explosion from within the undergroud bunker they had been hiding in.

Lizza, who had been starting her sixth year of Hogwarts at the time, had flooed in from Hogsmeade after the battle with her best freiend, Ethan, tailing her, frantically examining Julian for injuries. After the news of impending attack had reached the ears of Hogwart's Headmaster, Headmaster Eliss, the school had been locked down, and protective wards had been frantically established.

Lizza and a few other older students, including her Slytherin friend, Ethan Woods, had posted themselves loyally at all entrances to the school, even perching themselves ontop of the Owlry and astronomy towers; a few Gryffindors had allegedly climbed out of windows in the Gryffindor tower as well, helping keep watch over the skies as the battle raged from beyond the atmosphere. No matter how much the teachers had yelled at them to "stand down and leave it to the grown-ups", the students had stood firmly, wands out and pointing at the sky as younger students were ruched into the Chamber of Protection(perhaps the most useful think Salazaar Slytherin had left at Hogwarts).Thankfully, it had never come to a fight.

After finding his physical condition to be satisfactory, Lizza had began fuming and rageing, as had Ethan. Then, standing on some of the rubble of Starfleet Academy, she had boldly declared that she would become an Auror; the best that had ever lived. And not only had the attack sparked Lizza's passion for protection,; it had given Julian a sense of urgency that hadn't been there before.

After the attack, he had blazed through his classes and training with a passion, spending less and less time with his friends and more and more time studying and practicing. Lizza had adapted a similar attitude. She had stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas that year, and the year afterwards, and had done the same for Easter. During that summer(which would usually have been spent over at her friend, Luke's, place), she had invited Ethan over constantly, the two of them spending their afternoons dueling in the various environments that surrounded the Bashir residence. And if Ethan wasn't available? Well, Julian, when he was home, had taken to hiding in his closet if Ethan wasn't around; he didn't favor being the target of Lizza's killer Bat-Bogey hex, thank you very much!

All in all, the two of them were absolutly fanatical about their careers, that was for sure. He just hoped she would never end up having to fight in a war, or do something incredibly stupid and dangerous, or have to go under cover for months at a time like some Aurors had to...

A knock at the entrance jerked him out of his reminising. Whirling, he saw his sister leaning against the doorway, grinning, the chess set bock tucked under one arm, the PMD in one hand.

"Candygram." she announced plainly. He rolled his eyes.

"Oh, yes. What is it this time; a dungbomb desguised as a lollipop?" he said wryly.

"Oh, come on! That was _one time_!" she exclaimed, eyes wide. She went over to her backpack and started to load it up.

He went over to her, crouching down beside her. He felt another thrill of pleasure; since beginning his Starfleet career, he had only gotten to see her so very few times. He had gained a new appreciation for her presence since entering the grown-up world. _Guess it goes to say; you really don't appreciate this stuff till you only get to see it every other month or so…_

"Who won?" he asked, leaning back on his heels.

"Ask Garak." Lizza replied, casting him a cheeky grin as she stuffed the chess set into the largest pocket.

"Now, your training to be an Auror; you should know, even after one game with him, that he lies about most things." He told her, wondering just how far into her profiling lessons she was into.

"Hey! I can't spot a liar from fifty miles away yet!" she protested, zipping up her bag and sitting back on her heels similarly to how he was, throwing up her hands innocently. "Give me a couple of years! Then I'll finally know who dyed my hair pink in the incident of 64'. I've been suspecting Luke for years, but you never know…"

"Hey, I _swear_, it wasn't me!" it was his turn to look innocent now. "You know very well that there was always that risk whenever you stayed at Luke's place for the Christmas Holidays!"

"You _do_ realize that denial just makes you look guiltier, right?" she arched one eyebrow at him slyly.

"I thought you just said you weren't an expert yet!" he exclaimed, flopping his arms to his sides dramatically.

"Brother dearest, are you confessing?" Lizza inquired. _Oh, snap._ He had fallen right into _that_ slip-up. He grinned at her sheepishly.

Lizza let out an exasperated gasp, pulling her left arm into her sleeve and hitting him repeatedly with the now-floppy fabric. He cringed dramatically, nearly overbalancing.

"I knew it was you! You dirty little-!" she exclaimed, hitting him with her sleeve to punctuate each word. Julian, however, decided it was time to fight back. Pulling down both his own sleeves, he struck back at her, and soon they were laughing raucously, each of them flailing their arms around in the general direction of the other.

The battle lost its glory when Julian got hit in the eye and Lizza took a fist to the chin.

"Well, maybe I am a _little_ sorry…" he claimed, rubbing his eye painfully as Lizza massaged her jaw.

They sat there a few moments reminiscing. _How long has it been since we were like this?_ He wondered. Had it been during his sister's early Hogwarts years? During one of his visits from Junior Medical School, perhaps? Or was it right before he had shipped off to Deep Space Nine, as Lizza was starting her time as a Starfleet Cadet?

He smiled at her. She was just like how he remembered. If Lizza ever took interest in finding a bachelor, she'd have every man in the quadrant lined up trying to win her over. Her sleek, polished facial features, with her neatly-rounded triangular chin and stylishly messy hair (much like Julian's own), painted the picture every man probably saw when he thought about what his dream girl would look like. But no, Lizza was a tomboy to her core; she had very few female friends, and possessed an uncanny passion for racing brooms, sports ships, and the kind of down-and-dirty work that the Auror's life involved.

She was, in some ways, his opposite; while he preferred the peaceful way to doing the right thing, and often stuck to the rules like a flea to a dog(_most_ of the time), Lizza could get down right nasty. Her first "catch" as an Auror-in-training had involved a man who had been wanted for assaulting and killing several children. She had_ literally_ blasted him to pieces. Kind of by accident, of course-she had a mysteriously powerful Reductor Curse-but scary none the less. He remember well the day it had happened; she had been terrified, but had gotten over it quickly.

She had always excelled at curses and hexes like that, whereas he had been a total failure. His strength was in Charms and Transfiguration, where hers was in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. He had a fascination with healing and medicine, while she had a fiery passion to protect and fight. Sitting here, in DS9's infirmary, laughing like they had used to, it was easy to forget how different the worlds they lived in where.

"So… how are you, anyway? I mean, speaking of liars…you holding up alright?" Lizza started quietly, her crooked smile dissolving. Julian felt his own face crease into a frown. _She just _had _to bring "it" up…_

He nodded slowly. "Okay. At least, nobody seems to suspect, anyway. It's not something people usually assume when they meet somebody. I've managed to hold back enough so far to make it look convincing. At least, I _hope_ I've made it look convincing."

"Well, just remember not to get too smart about something; nothing crazy, like, _exactly_ how long it would take to reach Earth and back without a warp drive or something. Yeah, probably not do anything like that." She told him, shrugging. He nodded again solemnly, agreeing. Though, mentally, he did the math. _Whoa,_ he though as the result came to him, _NOT a trip I want to make._

Lizza's Comm badge gave a beep.

_"Wilark to Bashir."_ Came a gruff voice. Lizza hit her badge.

"Yeeeeeeees?" she asked innocently.

_"Get your sarcastic hind end on this ship before I drag you on it myself!"_ the voice replied. _"NOW!"_

The badge gave another beep.

"He adores me." Lizza told Julian with a grin.

"Well," Julian said, pushing himself to his feet," you heard the man. And I have a cardassian tailor to question, apparently. Unless you feel like relenting?"

"Oh, no," Lizza told him, standing and swinging her backpack over her shoulder, "you have the honors; I insist."

"Afraid to admit defeat?" he questioned slyly. She gave him a playful smirk.

"Nah. I just like to make things difficult for you; we've known that since my third year, remember?" she stated wryly. Julian loved the smile that was plastering itself all over his face. _Why can't I see her more often? I love being in Starfleet… but sometimes I wonder if it's worth not seeing her for years at a time._

"Well… I suppose I'll see you in three month, then…" he said sadly. Lizza's smile turned sad, too.

"I guess, maybe. Unless Wilark has me busting my butt with more stealth training." She agreed.

He pulled her into a hug, and the slightly smaller woman wrapped her free arm around him.

"You be careful out there, sis." He told her seriously as they broke away.

She nodded sternly, her Auror personality leaking out onto her features. "You too; from what you've told me, some really crazy weird things go on around this station."

"You know_ that's_ right." He sighed. Lizza offered him one more smile, before turning away and disappearing out the infirmary entrance.

_She'll be fine._ He told himself, trying to ease the sudden fear that plucked at him from every angle. _She's got a good mentor, with a good crew. Besides, what could possibly go wrong on a simple cartography mission?_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Dax passed through the Infirmary entrance, heart pounding in her chest, sorrow and pity pulsing through her. She knew all too well what Julian was going to go through; she had been through it so many times over the last three hundred years. But telling someone that it was _their _turn to grieve like this… it was always the hardest.

She saw Julian, puttering around as usual, organizing a new shipment of Essence of Murtlap. He was humming the bugle-call of Puddlemere United. _Oh, Julian… I really wish this weren't true…_

The bubbly, ever-happy, hyper-active Doctor Bashir was the last person you would expect tragedy to befall. It felt so _wrong_, for_ him_ of all people, to have this happen to them.

But it had happened, and it was now up to her to tell him. She cleared her throat. He turned, grinning broadly.

"_Helloooo_, Jedzia!" he said flirtatiously._ Even now, he's flirting with me, with no idea what I'm about to say…_ she though with a pang.

"Julian… there something that you need to know." She started, shuffling her feet. She felt strangely guilty, even though she had done nothing to be guilty of. The doctor's face fell as he realized how solemn she looked.

"What? What's wrong, Jedzia? Did something happen?" he asked her worriedly, stepping forwards and looking her up and down, as if checking for injuries.

"Something…something _did_ happen, Julian… but it doesn't involve me." She told him softly. There was nothing she could do to cushion the blow, no matter how gentle she was.

"What? What is it?" he demanded urgently, eyes wide. Dax glance at the floor, and then the wall, both of which were suddenly very interesting. Or perhaps it felt better to look at them rather than see _everything_ shatter in Julian's eyes.

"Odo and Chief O'Brian found the source of the distress signal." She braced herself for what she was about to say. "They found the wreckage, and …bodies. There were no survivors. I'm so sorry… It was the _Centurion_."

And that was when the world ended, not with a whimper, or a bang, but with the long, lonely wail that rose out from the Infirmary on that late Monday morning.

** Okay, sorry, but the next few chapters are still crummy. I'm getting on that as fast As I can. But, as you can see, I've turned from cheap to prolific. Originally, I was going to polish up this chapter; but then, I ended up re-writing it completely. So, what do you guys think about it?**

** Oh, and tiny little bit of backstory; the Wizarding World came out of hiding soon after First Contact.**

** How do you think the rest of humanity might have reacted to that?**

**L-*Uuuuuuuuugggg! Just get on with the next chapters already! You finnaly gave me some more personality; KEEP. IT. _COMING_!***

** Alright, alright(Missus Bossy; sheesh).**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I NEEDZ MORE SUPPORT CUZ FINALS KILLED ME AND AS SUCH I AM LOW ON SELF ESTEEM!**


	2. Captured

**HEEEEEEEY I"M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! Albeit temporarily. I spent a while writing towards the end of the summer, so I have a few pre-written chapter ready to post throughout the year. At least, until I get the chance to write again. I have been working on Who He Was a little, so no fear. But mostly it's been this fic, as well as a series for Warrios that I've been planning. Both this and that will be long-term series, and I'll be switching between the two of them. Also, Anybody know how to fix that thing where the page goes blank after we select a category for a new fic?**

Lizza had been on the _USS. Centurion_ for three months now. She liked to think of herself as an expert Auror, but in truth her training wasn't over yet. A year on a Starfleet vessel was required in order to become a Beyonding Auror, which was a special class of Auror that monitored and explored far out colonies and planets.

She had registered for Auror tests almost immediately after disembarking from the Hogwarts Express for the last time, and had passed with flying colors. So it had been sheer torture to be told she had to wait until she was eighteen if she wanted to become a Beyonder, as seventeen was still under aged by Starfleet standards. So she had waited for six long, grueling months, spending her time training up her spell work and visiting her brother at Starfleet academy, and she had enlisted into Starfleet the day after her birthday.

"Always in a rush to get everything done." Her father had described her behavior, comparing it to that of Julian's when he had wanted to become a Starfleet doctor.

Had she known what would happen that day, she would have made up an excuse to return to DS9. Saying she had left her wand there by accident would have sufficed, even though it would have reflected badly on the report the captain would file with the Grand Ministry of Magic. But she wasn't a seer, so she had to live with what happened. And little did she know that what happened would change her life forever.

It happened so fast, Lizza didn't know what was going on until the familiar voice rang through the comms, ordering them to their battle stations. The _Centurion _was jerking underneath her, tossing her and many other officers into the walls. At first, she forgot where her assigned battle station was, before remembering it was on the captain's deck.

She rushed there as fast as her legs could carry her, and as fast as the heavy blows to the starship would allow. Before she could get to the turbo lift, a new order came over the comms:

"Abandon ship."

She grabbed the first two Starfleet officers she could find, and turned on the spot, letting the need to get to the escape pods fill her entire being, and fighting back the voice in the back of her mind that screamed to be with her brother. If she thought of him, of that space station, she would lose her focus and most likely end up in the vacuum of space. Sub-space apparition was highly dangerous and not recommended to anyone who wished to live full lives.

She opened her eyes, and found herself and the officers she had grabbed on one of the _Centurion_'s many escape pods.

"How…?" one of the rescued officers questioned, looking at her confusedly. She pointed to her comm badge, which was sleeker and thinner, with a russet arrow on gold rather than gold on silver, and it had a sleek, black shape running under the russet arrow, symbolizing her magical abilities and marking her as an Auror in training.

"Oh." The officer said.

More Starfleet personnel rushed into the escape pods, all previous organization forgotten in the mad dash for survival. A warning bell rang out, telling all that a fatal blow to the ship had been fired, and that all escape pods were about to auto-eject. It was a cruel fate to those who had been on the threshold of a pod, only to have the computer slam the door in their face and steal their final hope.

Only this time, there was no more salvation for those in the pods than there was for those on the starship. Lizza felt the pod jerk as it was ejected, and she felt her heart break for the people who hadn't made it in time. For a moment, she considered apparating back and trying to bring some more people onto her pod, but before she could act, she saw what had been her home for the past three months go up in a circular fireball.

And then she saw one of the escape pods go the same way. And then another, and another, until she was certain they were the last pod the strange ships had left to destroy. _He has to know what happened! These ships won't stop with us, whoever they work for will certainly set eyes on the Alpha quadrant. It won't end here. Beware the black ships. They are hostile._

"_Expecto patronum_!" she shouted, thinking of the day she and Julian had finally mastered their animagus forms, and wrapping up her previous thoughts up into a message. A silver-white wolf burst from her wand and faced her, tipping its head to the side as it waited for its orders.

"Find my brother. Tell him." She said to it. It nodded and bounded through the wall. As several peopled looked at it, bewildered, she wondered if it would still deliver its message when she was dead. _Probably not._

She braced herself as she saw the enemy ship's fazers charging. She briefly wondered if she could hit one with a reductor curse if she used the bubble-head charm on herself, before remembering that if the vacuum didn't kill her, the explosion would.

Suddenly, she felt the same, odd feeling she would get whenever she was in a transporter beam. And then she wasn't on the escape pod anymore. She was in what appeared to be a transporter room on a dark ship, perhaps belonging to one of their attackers.

_They'll find my wand._ She quickly stuffed it back in the holster on her lower right arm. It was a reflex holster, which allowed her to slip her wand into her hand with the mere twitch of a tendon. Several aliens she didn't recognize were pulling officers out of the transporter forcefully. They reminded her of kimono dragons a bit, with their scaly, gray skin that looked loose on their necks. She started to try and shuffle her wand holster further up her arm.

She had only just managed to get it up past her elbow when one of the lizard men grabbed her and shoved her out into the open. They did an extensive pat-down, just as she had expected, and totally missed the slight bulge in her upper right arm. She took opportunity of not being pushed at that moment to get a better look at their surroundings.

It appeared that they were not the only pod of officers to be taken captive. There were at least fifty other Starfleet officers in this room, and who knows how many more if there was another transporter room. In this room, there were only two non-lizard people who looked like they weren't captives. At first she thought they were human, until she noticed the odd ear design.

One of them was a boney-faced man with black hair, and he looked as if he had eaten something sour. Next to him was a younger man, perhaps around her age, who looked much better than his companion, with red hair that stuck out in a way that reminded her of Julian a bit. He looked a little nervous, and maybe a little shocked. Ashamed? The two, or rather, the mad-looking one, seemed to be overseeing the operation.

She glared at them as she was brought past with her hands on her head.

"This is just an example of what you'll be doing, Avon. It's much harder when you have a specific target, but this is just an exercise of opportunity. We won't keep most of them." The black-haired man said as she passed. The ginger eyed her nervously, and his eyes darted to her sleeve before going to the ground again.

_He knows. _She wondered if he was their local 'clever person that everybody hates'._ They're going to kill a lot of these people. Like we're marbles they can pick and choose from._

However, for some strange reason, the ginger -_Avon?_ \- didn't speak up, only casting her one more sideways glance as she was led out the doorway. Perhaps he hadn't noticed her sleeve after all.

She and the rest of the men and women from her escape pod were escorted down several bleak hallways. There were no windows on this ship, and few doors to other rooms as well. Either these lizard men and their commanders never slept, or whoever had built this ship was not very bright.

Soon, they came to a split way. Ahead of her, another group of Starfleet captives appeared to be getting sorted. Another pair of men with strange ears stood at the wall. The one with gray-streaked brown hair stopped the line, and had one of the lizard men take an officer down the other hallway. Lizza leaned out of the line a bit more to get a better view as her heart leapt into her throat. It was Captain Vice!

She was shoved back into position as the line started moving again. _When I get free, I'm going to kill every stink'n lizard on this forsaken ship._ The line kept moving, stopping only once more for some unknown reason. When it came to be her time to be sorted, she could now see where the majority of her fellow Starfleet officers were being taken to._ It's an airlock. They're shooting them out of an airlock._ Lizza felt like she might vomit. What kind of sick people where these guys. _I'm going to die today._

She could see Marina, a brown-haired trill she had become friends with, in the group that was waiting for their death. The young host was crying, and didn't see Lizza as the graying man inspected her. He gave her a push on the shoulder, and another lizard man came to lead her away. She cast one last look back at Marina, as the trill lifted her head and seamed to catch sight of them before they rounded the corner._ She was newly joined. Now she dies, along with four other lifetimes of memories._

It turned out that the second hallway led to another airlock. Only unlike the first, this one had another ship attached to it, with a blond, sour-looking woman waiting at the threshold, her arms crossed and her foot tapping the floor as if she had better places to be. She had the same, weird ears as the others she had seen; only hers were adorned with earrings that looked like they might be made of rubies.

Lizza was shoved through the entryway and pushed onto the floor, where six other Starfleet officers, including Vice, were already waiting. The door of the shuttle closed as the woman entered, and she felt the floor vibrate as the power started. A lizard man came and put cuffs on her wrists like those on her companions.

Through the dimly-lit darkness, she saw her wristwatch. _It's been ten minutes since I finished eating waffles, eggs, and bacon for breakfast._

**Eggs n' bacon! So… GASP! Lizza's alive after all, and GASP! I'v decided to change her wand type next chapter! So yeah, this is no longer gonna be a one-shot series; I've decided to revamp it. Starting now, the chapters will all be at LEAST 1,000 pages long. So, the wand thing; basically I discovered the true wonders of the Pottermore and the Potter Wiki, so I've been brushing up on my Wandlore skills, as well as wizarding terminology.**

**I've been doing the same with my Sindarin, and although I'm hopeless as sentence structure as of yet, I'll get there. But yeah, I've matched the siblings with the wand's that have matching personalities, so instead of Willow and Griffin feather, I discovered that Lizza's a more Ebony and Dragon Heartstring kind of gal.**

**Ant ideas on what wand I should pair Julian up with? If you don't know much wand lore, just look up wand woods and cores on the potter wiki. Your opinion is valued, and I'm conflicted between so many woods that would pair great with him as a wand. I'm thinking of Dogwood and Phoenix feather, but I'm not too sure.**

**J-*You know, you could just use on of those "what's your wand" quizes and find out. Just answer the questions like you have my personality.***

**Well, it's much funner to let the fans decide, Julian! Common, embrace the fic!**

**J-*...okay... :I***


	3. The Plan Is Dead

Lizza had been a prisoner of the Dominion for almost a year now. She, and the other six officers she had been brought in with, had all been questioned multiple times. The only advantage they had now was her, and her magical abilities. Through all of the torture, they had managed to keep the wizarding world a secret from the jem'hadar. She still had her Ebony and dragon heartstring wand, but finding the right time to use it was even harder than keeping it a secret.

Right now, she was just glad they had all ended up in the same prison camp; it would make escaping with everybody's lives intact much easier. Despite the horrific things that had happened in the past year, Lizza was thinking more like an Auror than ever before. Because soon, the local vorta would be replaced, and that meant a clean slate.

The new vorta wouldn't know that Teirna Palamas was a great hacker. He wouldn't know that Roxanne could lie through her teeth and still look innocent. He wouldn't know that Vice was the one to watch out for, that Perry tended to start brawls in the mess hall, or that Ricky had memorized the placement of every nut and bolt in this prison. He also would be _completely_ unaware that Tom 'Jam' Cortez could make a peanut explode with the force of a fazer blast.

And most of all, he wouldn't expect them to be planning an escape, whereas the old vorta knew exactly who the most suspicious people in the compound were. As she lay staring at the ceiling, she wondered yet again about the patronus she had sent before being captured. She didn't even know if it would be smart enough to use the wormhole, or if it could even use the wormhole to begin with. Heck, if it hadn't dissipated already, would _anybody_ even be able to hear what it was saying? She couldn't even remember the exact words she had given as a message.

"Lizza! He's here!" Perry shouted as he ran into the room. Everyone else stirred in their beds, lifting their heads groggily.

Vice ripped the thin, grainy blankets off from over himself, bolting upright. Everyone else in the room did the same, standing at attention.

"At ease." The Captain told them. They relaxed.

"When should we begin, miss Bashir?" he asked Lizza.

"I say we set up shop as soon as the old guy is gone. Jam's got all the charges ready." She said, nodding to the black pyrotechnics expert. Jam was a monster of a man, towering over all of them,.

"All you have to do is say the word, and it all goes 'boom'." He told them.

"And I've got the security network taken care of." Palamas added." Just get me to the ship, and I can hack into it."

Their plan was to steal a Dominion ship. First, Jam would set off the explosive charges he had planted in the vents with help from Ricky. Roxanne would tell the new vorta that several prisoners were rebelling in the west wing, where the explosives had been planted. After that, the plan relied heavily on Lizza, Vice, and Palamas.

Lizza would apparate in front of the ship, Palamas would hack the security with the makeshift sonic probe she had made, and then it would be up to Lizza and Professor Song to clear the ship of jem'hadar using her animagus form and whatever powerful curses she could think of. Then, she would disapparate and retrieve Jam, Ricky, and Roxanne. Vice, who had gotten schematics of the basic jem'hadar attack vessel thanks to Palamas, would be the one to drive the cursed ship away.

They hoped it would be smooth sailing from there on out, but they didn't even know where in the Gamma Quadrant they were, so it could take a while to get their bearings and find the wormhole. The location of the camp compared to the wormhole was the one bit of information that had eluded Palamas's prying fingers.

"Well. Let's get set up, and bide our time. Let's not rush it, let's not be too slow. If we fail, the folks back home won't have a clue about the Dominion until it's too late." Vice said.

"How do we know the Dominion hasn't made a move on the Alpha Quadrant yet?" Roxanne questioned her curly black hair bouncing as she tipped her head to one side.

"I think they made their first move a long time ago, sweetie." River said from her place near the doorway. River Song hadn't been here long, but had agreed to help Lizza clear out the jem'hadar ship.

Everyone wondered what kind of parents would name their kid "River", but when asked about it, the blond would shake her head and say it was between her and her mother. They also wondered how an archeologist knew how to dual wield fazer pistols, but the professor didn't really reveal much about herself in any way, shape, or form. She was actually a bit like Roxanne.

"Well. We've waited a year for an opportunity like this. We might not get a second chance. So let's make it count." Lizza said. _So I can see my brother again. So that everything will be right with the world._

Most likely, Julian thought she was dead. If not, then maybe a year of search efforts -and all of the money funding it- was about to be flushed down the toilet. Either way, people would have their eyes popping out of their head when she and the others returned home with an enemy ship as a prize.

As the others started preparing themselves, Lizza found herself adrift in her own mind. She always found herself recalling something random and unrelated whenever she was about to do something very important. Right now, she was recalling her brother, and the day he had first gone to Hogwarts.

People of all sorts crowded Kings Cross Station. Many were human, some were alien. But today, most were witches or wizards. Since the wizarding world had come out of hiding, the "secret" path to Platform 9 ¾ had been made much more accessible, and it was much easier to get in and out of the passage without worrying about running into someone on the other side.

Lizza Bashir was only 6, and to her, the place was unbelievable. The amount of jealousy inside of her was unbelievable as well. He big brother was going to be a wizard when he grew up, and she would probably be stuck doing some boring muggle job. Because what were the chances of a muggle family having both their only children magic? None.

_"But _why_ can't I go? Just for a visit?" she whined as her father led her along. Julian was on her other side, pushing a trolley with several suitcases and a tawny-feathered Screech Owl._

"Only magic people are allowed there, Lizza. I've told you a million times!" he told her. They had been having this argument the whole shuttle ride, and neither brother nor sister noticed the tired look on their father's face.

"Well, how do you get magic, then?" she pleaded.

_"You don't '_get_' magic. You're born with it."_

_"How do _you_ know? For all you know, you got it from your you-know-what!" She cried._

"Not here! Not in public!" their father hissed, pulling his daughter closer as she groaned dramatically and dragged her feet along the ground.

"You." A voice snapped her out of her reverie. It was the vorta. The old one. And he had several jem'hadar with him. And seemed to be addressing her.

"What?" she spat.

"Good news, human; you're being transferred. A vorta has just gained a higher authority, and he needs some prisoners to get started with." The vorta sneered.

"Why her?" Palamas questioned, getting up in his face." Why not me?"

The vorta looked at her bemusedly before flicking his wrist. One of the jem'hadar rushed forwards, stabbing his knife into Palamas's neck.

"No!" River screeched, darting in to catch the falling engineer. She clasped her hand over the wound in vain, and Lizza felt new rage rise up inside of her as Palamas's final breath rattled through the air.

"She was only twenty one!" River yelled at the vorta, voice quaking with enough venom to kill a million targs. Jam looked on sadly, and the tendons in Vice's neck could be seen as he clenched his jaw.

"It's no matter. She would have died anyway. There is no escape." The vorta said matter-of-factly.

He turned to Lizza. _The plan is dead. It died with Palamas. There's no way onto that ship without her. She was the only one who knew how to use a sonic probe._ Fresh grief clawed its way into her heart. Palamas had been a dear friend for over a year now. They had had so much in common, both with wizarding big brothers and architects as dads.

"When we get out of here, I vote we go on a _gigantic_ girls' day out." She had said last week.

"I vote 'yes' on that plan." Lizza had replied. She wasn't much of a girly-girl, but what the heck; she had had a long year.

"Grab her." The vorta ordered. _Not without a fight!_

She punched the first jem'hadar in the gut as hard as she could. The plan may have failed, but she would leave a little jem'hadar with her friends as possible. "Protect the innocent, mend the broken, and make strong the weak. Protection… at any cost." Those were the words every Auror swore to follow when they finished their initial training.

She brought her elbow around and hit the other jem'hadar in the head. Even Aurors had to train in basic hand-to-hand combat when they joined Starfleet. But of coarse, there were more jem'hadar on their way, and she only managed to knock out one more when the butt of a rifle slammed into her head and everything went black.

**GASP! HUGE GASP! RIVER SONG IN A POTTERTREK FIC? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS, AMBERSTAR? Actually, it isn't madness at all. I'll need River Song later so I can give a profession to our favorite hybrid in the trek universe(NOT Spock! The OTHER hybrid! The girl. You know who I'm talking about! I just can't remember how to spell her name so I'll leave it for now)**

**But yeah, this is mostly pottertrek(As I like to call it), but with a refreshing sprinkle of Doctor Who just to spice it up. Next chapter will take us back to DS9, and we'll be seeing another Who character. And before you ask; the TARDIS and her Time Lord will appear only once in the series, and after that the Who part of this universe will start to die down a bit, as it isn't too terribly relevant to the ideas I have in mind.**

**L-*Why did you make me have a random flashback, anyway? Will this be a thing?***

**Cuz I needed an excuse to let your child self make an appearance. And maybe.**


	4. Oswin

**Okay, sorry this one's so short. Sorry in advanced...**

Odo wasn't sure what he was seeing. One moment, he was heading in to write Quark up for saftey violations, the next, he walks into the bar to see _this_.

The station's cheif of medical staff, Dr. Bashir, was sitting at the bar, a cup in one hand, pale as a ghost and as still as a rock. He looked horrified. But Cheif O'Brian and Dax didn't. In fact, they appeared to be highly amused.

Shaking himself out of his suprise, Odo approached them, noticing at once the icecube in the Cheif's hand.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you; you might make him hurt himself." the security cheif warned. O'Brian dropped the icecube, looking disapointed.

"Exactly what happened to him?" He asked.

"Well, you see that girl over there? The science officer with the black hair? I dared Julian to ask her out." Dax explained, looking peevish.

"And?" Odo pressed. Why would asking a girl out result in this odd behavior? He would never understand the complexities of the humanoid desire for companionship.

"Annnnnnndd..." Dax began, looking amused but embarassed at the same time." It turns out she's an empipathic psychic. And a squib... a seer squib. He walked up to her, and then she said she had had a vision of him asking her out, and that she would go, and _then_ she pinned me for the dare and said that everything would be okay on their date."

"A squib? Seer? Empipathic?" Odo tried to wrap his head around everything that Dax had told him, in one breath, no less. He knew what empathy meant, but empipathic?

"A squib is like the opposite of a muggle-born wizard; they have magic parents,but they struggle with magic themselves. Seers, well,_true_ seers can predict the futer, tell prophecies, have visions, that sort of thing." O'brian explained from Julian's other side.

"And an empipathic phsychic is someone who can _literally_ sense other people's emotions. it's not like how you can look at someone and tell how they're feeling by their expression, she can _feel_ everything you're feeling. And that, combined with the fact she's a squib seer... It's not really that supriseing that she has visions." Dax finished.

Odo shook his head, still not was the big deal? Squib seer? Wouldn't that mean that she has no seer abilities? Wouldn't it? And why would this cause Julians 'frozen' state?

"Hey!" Quark's voice clawed the air. "You gonna do something, or just sit there?" The ferengi seemed to be adressing the paralized doctor.

"He just got told by a cute girl that she had a vision of him and would go on a date with him, give him some slack, Quark!" Dax gasped.

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's probably right, Dax; you should get him out of here so he can 'recover' from his encounter. How is he supposed to date that girl if he can't move?" Odo told her reluctantly, inwardly hissing at the smug look that crossed the bartender's face.

"Fine." Dax huffed." A little help, Cheif?"

Julian moved stiffly, still looking like a ghost. As they neared the door, Odo remembered something.

"Exactly what's her name?" he called.

"She said it was Oswin. Oswin Clara Oswald, I think. I think she's with the crew of the _Destiny_, here on shore leave." O'Brian answered over his shoulder.

"Com'on, Romeo." Dax told the doctor as the left.

Odo turned towards the tables, spotting again the dark-haired girl that Dax had pointed out. _Oswin, huh?Oswin the phsychic. I'll have to do a background check on her later._ Any psychic, empipathic or not, was a concern on this station.

"Well, now that _he's_ done freaking my costumers out..." Quark started to walk away from his place behind the bar.

"Oh, no you don't! I have words for you on _several_ saftey violations, including but not limiting to..."

**Ahhhhhh, guess who. Doctor Who. Here we go!**

**O- *Will I end up dieing?***

**I have no idea.**

**O-*Will I marry Julian?***

**No idea. O O -(**


	5. Meeting Again as the Darkness Gathers

**Uhhhh, I just realized, I originally forgot to post this chapter... soooooooooo...**

**Okay, here in this chapter, we will be meeting someone who is quite significant...again. And we'll be getting a glimpse at Lizza and Julian's childhood. By the way, I'm thinking of doing this a lot more, giving siblings to characters. I have recently been imagining what would happen if Thor and Loki had a brother and sister as well...**

It wasn't so much a dream as it was a memory.

_Lizza screeched with excitement as she saw what the Barn Owl had been carrying. The bird had evidently flown in through her window as she was sleeping, and she had woken when it nipped her ear to get her attention. It had dropped a thick envelope on her bed covers, with a wax seal that she recognized from five long years of her brother getting such letters; it was a letter from Hogwarts, and it was addressed to _her_._

_A bewildered Julian burst into her room in his nightclothes, his tennis racket in one hand, poised to swing. Lizza jumped out of her covers, jumping on the bed excitedly as the owl sat on her bedpost with a bored expression, as if it had seen this _so_ many times._

_"I got a letter! I got a letter! I got a letter! I got a letter!" she sang, her black hair waving wildly as she jumped up and down and all over the place._

_"You got a _WHAT_!" Julian exclaimed, dropping his tennis racket. Their parents were off on a business trip, with the family hippogriff, Sky(their parents had _really_ taken a liking to hippogriffs during Julian's second year), leaving their only son in charge of his little sister._

_Lizza gave a final jump, landing on her bum on the edge of the bed in a violent end to her initial excited outburst. She held out the thick parchment envelope._

_"See? 'Elizabeth Stella Bashir, Thames Way, Building 106, The Second Upstairs Bedroom' ! That's me, Julian!" she told him excitedly, pointing at the letters on the envelope._

_Her brother came up and sat next to her, and she handed him the letter. She had never opened a wax-sealed envelope before; what if she opened it the wrong way?_

_"Elizabeth Stella Bashir, we are happy to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._ _Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._ _Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st. Yours sincerely, Professor Kallik Carman." He read, eyes lighting up happily."You know what this means, Lizza? We're going to get to go to school together!"_

Something or someone poked her in the shoulder sharply. She wanted cheese. This was weird, because Lizza hated cheese very much. This hatred was further confused by the fact that nothing compared to a good cheddar stick. Okay, she supposed that cheese was pretty good in _very_ low doses, but anything beyond that, and she would vomit. Something poked her shoulder again.

She opened her eyes, but her eyelids felt heavy and crusted. Her head was pounding, and it felt like she had been dragged through the wormhole from the back of a runabout. She sat up, blinking away the spots that danced in front of her eyes. She looked at whoever had been poking her, any nearly leapt out of her skin in surprise.

It was a vorta. More specifically, the same ginger-haired one that she had seen the day she was captured. She was sure it was him, as she remembered every moment of that day with great detail. The only thing she couldn't remember was what the other vorta had called him, because to be honest, she hadn't really cared. He held up her wand, which was likely the thing he had been poking her with.

"What's this?" he inquired, hazel eyes glinting not with malice, but curiosity. His voice wasn't cold or angry like that of most vorta she had encountered. Instead it was soft, quiet, and intelligent rather than laced with the 'I'm superior to you in every way' haughtiness.

"It's mine, and it's none of your business." She snapped. He flinched by an infinite amount.

"Yeah. But what's the purpose? It's just an old stick." He said, looking at her wand doubtfully, as if he wasn't sure if it was dangerous, but didn't want to risk giving it back to her.

"Just a stick?! That _stick_ is very important to me!" she snarled. He looked more than a little scared now.

"Okay, okay, I didn't mean anything by it, G.I. Jane." He said hastily, holding the wand out for her to take it. Rather than take back her most precious position, she gawked at him.

"G.I. Jane? Where did you learn that from?" she asked.

"I heard another one of the prisoners say it to his female companion. They were having a very heated discussion." He told her, still holding out her wand. She took it, and looked at her surroundings.

She was in some sort of barrack, and there were bunk beds lining the walls. She was in one, and the ginger vorta was looking up at her.

"Do you do this to every one of your prisoners?" she asked, eye's narrowed suspiciously.

"No." he answered in a way that reminded her of Gandalf in the opening scenes of the second movie in the first _Hobbit_ film trilogy. "Swear I've seen you before though. "

"A year ago. It'll come to you." She growled. _My animagus form is showing through again._ She though bemusedly.

"…Oh…_that_." He said.

"Oh? _Oh_? _OH_?" she yelled, and he seemed to visibly shrink" you killed hundreds of people who had nothing to do with you! You shot them out of an airlock! You killed my friends, and all you have to say is 'Oh'?"

There was the sound of footfalls coming from one end of the barracks. The vorta cast one last look at her, fear in his eyes, before dashing in the opposite direction. _A vorta all alone in a barrack full of his prisoners? Yeah, you better run._ Which was why she was so surprised when she saw it was not angry prisoners that had seemed to scare the vorta off.

It was a group of jem'hadar.

**Okay, so what do you think of Avon? Let's just wait until his next appearance before you start screaming AVONXLIZZAFORLIFE! He IS a defective clone, I'll tell you that much. But _how_ defective? You'll find that out for yourselves in just a bit. For now, It's back to DS9 again.**

**Also, what do you think of all the kid Lizza flashbacks? What do you think of kid Lizza in general? Would you like more, or less flashbacks? You know what, tell me if you want a short fic taking place in Hogwarts, and it might happen.**

**J-*Can we wear our Quidittch robes for the whole fic? Please!***

**NO.**

**L-*Yes.***

**No, I said _NO_!**

**L- *And I said _YES_!***

**If you don't stop it, I'll delay your tear-filled sibling reunion for six more chapters then need be!**

**L/J-*...***

**There, that's better, now, isn't it?**

**L-*Raises troll club***

**Buh-bye!**


	6. One Plus One Equals Two With New Hope

**Grrrrrrrr! I just wish the Master would freak'n STAY DEAD!** **I mean, seriously, he got DESINTEGRATED by a CYBERMAN! And I know He's technically a girl now, but he's been a boy longer, so WHY THE HECK CAN'T HE JUST STAY DEAD FOR ONCE!?**

Avon _knew_ he had seen this strange young woman somewhere before. And the sense of wrongness coming from her had been familiar, too. The feeling was more odd than unpleasant, but he knew that it was dangerous all the same. As far as he could tell, the other vorta hadn't felt the same way.

But there was something off about this girl and her stick. The stick had the same wrongness feeling that the girl had, though a little stronger. Throughout their conversation, there had been a strangely lupine way to her movements; the way she tipped her head, the way her lips curled, and the way her voice somehow took a deep, growling accent as she got angrier.

"Oh? _Oh_? _OH_? You killed hundreds of people who had nothing to do with you! You shot them out of an airlock! You killed my friends, and all you have to say is 'Oh'?" Even her yell oddly sounded like a bark, and her head moved as if she were speaking with a muzzle instead of a human mouth.

Panic rose in him as she yelled. He hadn't meant it like that. He _wanted _to talk to her. He just didn't want to talk about _that_ day. The day true doubt had sprouted in his mind; and it had grown bigger ever since. During that day, the younger vortas were being trained on how to capture targets from enemy vessels; drive them into the escape pods, beam them aboard, take your target… and dispose of the rest.

The moment the first Starfleet personnel were beamed aboard the ship, he had felt sick to his stomach. _What have we done?_ He had kept asking himself when he made the mistake of putting a viewing lens on. All around them, he had seen the bodies of dead officers that had been ejected from the airlock. He had felt ashamed of aiding in such actions during the whole operation.

He had thought the feelings of doubt would subside when he met a founder for the first time. He had been magnificently unimpressed by his so-called gods. They had been damageable, flawed, and, in his opinion, terrible control freaks. A meeting with a founder had only reinforced his doubt in the Dominion's ways.

And then there with this girl, who had briefly caught his attention during the operation he was ashamed of. She intrigued yet frightened him. He had a feeling that she could be his chance at redemption, and, quite possibly, escape from this nightmarish corner of the galaxy.

The sound of jem'hadar boots thumping on the ground signaled the arrival of several guards, who had most likely been attracted by this woman's yelling. His stomach flip-flopped in his gut; if he was seen trying to have a casual conversation with a prisoner, they would know he was a defective clone. _The first Avon, a defective. So much for their new advance science. _He thought wryly.

He cast her one last glance, before running. _I can try again later. I hope._ He nearly ran into one of the other prisoners, from a race known as the bajorans, if he remembered correctly, as he came out of the barracks and into the main corridor of the encampment. He halted as he saw one of the jem'hadar turning the corner, forcing himself not to pant, and trying to look like he _wasn't_ guilty. _But I am guilty. I helped kill those people. I wasn't brave enough to speak for them. I couldn't ask if it was the right thing to do. I couldn't pluck up the courage to do the right thing._

The jem'hadar vaguely acknowledged him as they passed, and he relaxed as they left. He was going to do the right thing from now on, starting with this Starfleet woman.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTLINEBREAKTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"My name's Avon." He said the next day to the Starfleet officer. She was laying in her bunk, her back turned towards him this time. His greeting yielded no response. He wasn't even sure if she was awake. He decided to try and make right. He had been planning on what to say in order to make her trust him all night.

"I did something wrong. I've regretted it ever since. Truth is, I'm defective. I should have been killed a long time ago." He told her. The woman rolled over to look at him with a cautious green gaze.

"What are you playing at?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm telling you the truth. I don't believe in the Dominion's cause." He looked around briefly, checking for jem'hadar; his nerves felt even more frayed than usual, and he kept glancing over his shoulder for some reason." Sometimes there's a problem in the code, and vorta come out defective. They're usually disposed of. But I'm the first Avon, and a vorta line has never started out with a defect before. They probably think that it's impossible"

The woman rolled over completely. Her eyes were still narrowed, but at least he had earned her trust, even if it was just temporarily.

"I'm listening." She said suspiciously. He felt relief pour through him, and the words practically exploded out of his mouth at warp speed 10.

This was one thing he could never do with another vorta; talk. Just talk. Reveal things that _had_ to get out before he lost his mind, and here he was revealing his defectiveness and shame to a complete stranger, a person he was holding prisoner, no less. And if felt _so _good. And he was absolutely _terrified_ that a jem'hadar or another prisoner would walk in on their conversation, but nothing happened.

By the end, he seemed to have gained a sort of trust with this strange woman. She still seemed to think he might be playing her, but any visibly feeling of this seemed to vanish when he leapt at her mention of escaping.

"Hey, If you want out of here, send the rescue ship my way! " he tried to joke nervously, becoming more and more paranoid that someone would be listening.

"You would help me escape?" she asked, head tipping to the side wolfishly.

"I'd help everyone on this stupid rock escape if I could!" a loud noise made him jump, and his constant fear of discovery won him over."I should go."

As he hurried away, however, her voice called him back again. He halted at the east entrance to the barracks, looking back at her. She was leaning over the side of her bunk to look at him.

"My name's Lizza. Don't call me 'Elizabeth', 'Liz', 'Lizzy', 'Ellie', or 'Beth', because 'Beth' sounds just plain stupid." She told him, a canine grin on her face. He found himself smiling back.

And the first step he took out that door, he swore it felt like a first step towards freedom.

**Okay, here we are, another OC, who won't die as quickly as Palamas did(Sorry about that, I just had to get it over with so I did it in a rush). So, so far, how do you like our little defective vorta so far? ANNNNNNNNND… let the shipping commence.**

** But Things will be slowing down from now on. We may not be seeing Avon or Lizza for a while, things will predominantly taking place on the station from here on out. We may get a peak at what's happening with Jam and the others, though. Maybe. Also, Jayfeatheris Awesome may be busy for a while. She can't update very often, and she IS trying to manage four fic at once(I think she's putting Heart of the Wolf on HAITUS, though), and she is currently working on a re-write of River Tide. Both of us kind of upgraded our knowledge of elven culture over the summer, and River Tide just doesn't feel right any more. **

**Also, does anyone know how to delete a fanfiction profile? We've decided to experiment, and see if deleting our profiles and setting them back up again gets rid of our nasty "new Story" problem, in which the second page in the new story creation process goes blank instead of loading in. As soon as we figure out how to delete a profile, we're going to load all the stories in on a USB and re-post them on our new profiles. Don't worry, we'll post them with the same number of chapters as they had before the profiles were gone.**

** But yeah, I would be great if someone told us how to delete a profile, or fix this bug.**

**And, sorry if I made her sound more like a werewolf than an Animagus.**

**L-*AVON! GET OUT OF MY PEANUT BUTTER!***

**Oh, boy. Looks like he has yet to learn his boundries. Excuse me just a sec...**


	7. Silver Wolf

** As many of you have probably noticed, I have changed the title of this fic. Previously it was _Lost, Missing, Found Again, Lost Again, Missing Again, Sick of Repeats_, but that was a little lengthy, and since I still can't post new stories(WHY ME?!), I've decided to not make this a series of fics, but rather a collection of their adventures.**

Julian didn't know what to do. He was hopelessly in love with Oswin, and he had no idea what to do. What _did _one do when they fell in love with an empathic psychic who had occasional visions of the future? Panic. That's what he was doing. He was panicking over a dinner date.

Both Dax and Chief O'Brian had tried to give him advice. Garak and Odo knew absolutely _nothing_ about dating, so it was pointless to take advice from noobs. Commander Sisko had only managed to make him even more terrified, telling him that whatever he did, _don't say "you have beautiful eyes."_ Apparently, it was so cliché, it was a date-doomer.

So here he was, about to date a cute psychic who he was currently scared of. He sat as stiff as cardboard, and he knew he was going to feel the aftermath in his back the next morning. And Garak was NOT helping.

"So this is what an expert dater looks like?"

"Shut up, Garak."

"Oh, I'm just here to observe. Take notes, so to speak."

"Go. Away."

"You said I knew nothing about women. I'm here to learn from the master."

Julian let out a low moan. The tailor was obviously enjoying torturing his friend. The first time torturing a love-struck friend was always the best, Julian knew from personal experience. It was just a little weird to be on the receiving end this time.

Of course, he had one advantage none of his past victims had had; Garak didn't know Oswin was a psychic. One mention of her ability, and hopefully the former spy would run for the hills under the assumption that Oswin would be able to see into his memories. No need to bring up the fact that she was an empath, only capable of feeling other's emotion rather than their thoughts, but hopefully the cardassian wouldn't ask for specifics.

"So, what does this mystical woman do for a living?" Garak asked with a bemused smirk.

"She's in Starfleet. A science officer." He answered through grit teeth. His jaw would break if this continued any longer.

"What kind of science?" he pressed.

"Neurology. She's a psychic, Garak, what did you expect? A botanist?" annnnnnnnnd… the winning blow had struck.

"What do you mean? You never mentioned she was a psychic?" his smirk was replaced by a frown.

"Well, Dax knew, and usually everyone knows things within the hour if the gossip queen gets wind of something." Julian said, relief running down his spine. He didn't think he would survive the night if he was stuck with Garak watching his dating experience like a hawk.

Then he saw the short, black-haired empath near the doorway. _Time for the coup de gras._

"Hi, Oswin! Over here!" he called, standing and waving his arm to get her attention. Garak seemed to pale a bit, and turned to leave as soon as Oswin spotted them.

"You'll never make it in the world as a wing-man, Garak!" he called after the tailor as he made a hasty retreat. Oh, he was _never_ going to let him forget this after he revealed Oswin's specific psychic skill set.

And then Oswin sat herself down in the chair opposite from him, and true terror seized him again. He hair was done up in a fancy rose braid bun, and her mint blue dress glittered like starlight. _Someone… help…_

The best he could manage was a stupid grin. She gave him that teasing, knowing look, with that same smile she had sent him hours earlier, when she had said she had had a vision of him asking her out. That look… shock slammed him as he realized who it reminded him of. _That's the same look Lizza would give me whenever she figured out one of my little secrets. Almost exactly the same. Did she see Lizza in my head? In a vision? Is it just my mind playing tricks on me?_

Oswin must have sensed the change in his mood, and the look was wiped from her face in a heartbeat. _Oh, great, I've ruined it._ He wailed internally._ Why does everything have to remind me of my little sister?_

"Something bad happened, didn't it?" she said slowly."Who did you lose?"

"My sister. My little sister." He told her. The words clawed his throat just as they always did whenever he had to explain what happened.

"I've got one of those. And an older one. Between one clamoring for my attention, and the other kicking me out of her room every ten seconds, my childhood was a bit of what you might call 'hectic'." Oswin said with a slight smile. He returned it, for some reason.

"Middle child. Ouch._ And_ you're psychic." He stated wryly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she laughed. _Uh-oh_. The question was asked humorously, but it was still a danger zone.

"I mean, were they always asking you to use your powers?" he cleared his throat, trying to banish the memories of Lizza and him playing in a snow-cover forest as children before they consumed his attention.

"No. My big sister is a witch, and my little sister is a true seer. Like you said; middle child." She snorted.

"Lizza was an Auror. She was training to become part of the Beyonding Division." He said. He remembered the chess pieces being shattered as they played for the last time.

"Was she pretty?" eyes as green as summer leaves, her long, dark hair fluttering in the wind, her smooth, pale skin stretched over her excided facial features as they stuck their heads out of a window on the Hogwarts Express. The last time he had ever ridden the Hogwarts Express.

"Yeah." Didn't do her justice. Had Lizza ever sought out a boyfriend, she would likely have been married before him.

Oswin placed a hand on his wrist, staring into his eyes with her impossibly blue ones. He tried to keep himself from flinching. Because, for a split second that lasted a million years, a thousand lives seemed to pass flash through the blue depths.

"She may be gone. But she's never really left you. Pity the living, not the dead, Julian** (Oooooooh, snap! Dumbledore quote! BOOOOOM! Had to.) **." she said.

_She's right._ A small voice inside him said._ I can't stop living in a past I can't go back to. There is not a magic time machine I can use to set things right. I have to do my job; I have to heal people. Living people, not dead ones._

And he felt a little better.

TTTTTTTTTDERPYLINEBREAKTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Personally, Julian thought the night had been a rather successful venture. Part of him couldn't wait to rub his success in Garak's smug face, but a larger part of him just couldn't wait to get to sleep. Him and Oswin had been up waaaaay past the recommended bedtime for average human adults. When the klingon restaurant had finally closed, they had moved to Quark's bar and spent several hours exchanging the _wildest_ stories. Julian was pretty sure he had made most of his up, as Oswin had admitted to making up hers during an arousing but embarrassing game of truth or dare.

He had ended up drinking a teaspoon full of the hottest hot sauce in the quadrant, and Oswin had confessed to spiking his drink with food coloring… which had turned out to be a dirty little lie.

He collapsed face first onto his couch with a groan. He didn't want to bother with getting dressed. He would just fall asleep right here, right now. And he did.

_He was floating in the vastness of space. Starlight danced everywhere he looked, and clouds of vibrantly colored nebulas made it seem like this was the most beautiful place in the galaxy. But he had had this dream before. He knew what was about to happen. Except he didn't know that this time, the dream would be different._

_"Was she pretty?" Oswin's voice rang._

_"Yeah." His own voice echoed back._

_He spun in the vacuum of space, expecting to see what he always saw; the body of Lizza floating by. But this time, it wasn't just Lizza. This time, there were several others, including Oswin. Oswin, Dax, Chief O'Brian, the rest of his friends and people he saw on a day-to-day basis. Jake Sisko's eye were frozen open in terror, and his father drifted close by with a look of horror etched onto his face._

_"You made a mistake, brother." Lizza said. She was standing beside him now, her hands held behind her back in a Dax-ish manner. She leaned in closer to whisper in his ear."I'm still alive."_

_"No. You died. I have to accept that."_

_"Wake up!" She hissed harshly."Now! Wake up!"_

He jerked awake, and he would feel cold sweat on his face. But there was a white-blue light in front of him, and smoky wisps' of it bushed his face, sending feelings of warmth along him. And then he realized what it was, and he rolled off his couch to crouch in front of the patronus that seemed to have landed in his living room.

"Lizza?" it was her patronus, no doubt. There was no mistaking the bent tail and pricked ears. The beast was panting as if it had run a long way. _Did it come here all the way from the place the _Centurion_ was destroyed?_

It would definably make sense; sub-space patronus messages were for emergency Auror distress signals, as Lizza had told him during one of her previous visits, and they had been known to take years to reach their destination. Even then, it was usually too late for the patronus caster by the time someone actually found them.

The wolf's muzzle opened, and it's jaws moved as if it were speaking, though the words were barely audible. He moved closer to hear what it was saying. And then, he heard a voice he never thought he would hear in reality again. It was silent, faded because of the long journey, but it was as strong as ever. And what she said chilled him to the bone.

"_It won't end here. Beware the black ships. They are hostile."_ And the wolf let out a howl, dissipating into wisps of sparkling white fog that rose up into the air. He snatched at it, trying to bring it back. He hadn't heard the full message! It might have said where Lizza was!

"No!" he protested. He punched the floor with frustration, as something new fill him up and begged to be let out. He looked around desperately. He had been given a sign of hope, only to have it snatched cruelly from him.

But now, he had a whole new set of problems to deal with. The patronus had come, so she wasn't dead. But she was out there, somewhere, lost in the Gamma Quadrant. Lost, and maybe even injured. The feeling that begged to be released was a fierce love that couldn't be stopped. He would find his baby sister, even if he had to look for the rest of his life.

**LoL, I built this ship in my basement. :O Okay, so if you didn't laugh at the beginning of this chapter, you have no heart. If you didn't hate what I'm putting our poor doctor through by the end of this chapter, you have no soul. It's like if you watch Eleven regenerate without crying *Sobs*.**

**But yeah, the whole thing with Oswin's eyes was a reference to the many times she has saved the Doctor( NOT Bashir, the Time Lord one) in her many lives that are scattered throughout his timeline. Will she die saving our fezz-wearing hero? Not a clue. I'm pretty sure I'm starting to get attached to the Osshir ship now. I've been contemplateing writing this fic since I finished watching the whole series, and I'm pretty sure of where I'll be going with it.**

**Speaking of ships, what to do with Ezri if Oswin and Julian are still together by season 7's time…Or should I be nice to Warf and spare Jedzia? I know I'm getting like, WAY ahead of myself here, but still. Anyway, this marks the end of part one, _Lost_. Next, we start on _Missing_.**

**R and R.**

**WARF PUT THAT CAT DOWN! IT IS NOT A FOOT PILLOW!**


	8. The Search Begins

**From here on out, we might be seeing nothing but DS9 for a while. I've decided to have one fic per season, so yes, there will be more after and if our sibling re-unite. By the way, I need some more obscuer movie references for Avon. He really doesn´t know what any of them mean, he just says them because he's been eavesdropping on so many people, he´s picked up a bit of their culture as well. I know I could just binge on N.C.I.S. and pay attention to all of Tony´s movie references, but then I´ll be in the mood to write an N.C.I.S. fic, and _Siblings_...**

** Well, lets just say, I´ve had this fic in my head for years, and it´s a bit of a pet project of mine at this point. That, and getting references JUST through N.C.I.S. would be way too slow a process, and I want some original stuff for Avon. Plus, I have neither the time nor the resources to watch every James Bond movie ever made, and some Chuck Norris references and jokes would be much appreciated as well, as I want Lizza to make a lot of Chuck Norris jokes.**

¨Should I stop?¨

¨WHAT?! No no no, what does Julian do next!¨

¨Well, things have started getting more intense. And it´s nearly past your bedtime.¨

¨But grandma, you said you would tell us the _whole_ story!¨

¨Yeah, you promised!¨

¨Please!?¨

¨Ha, ha, ha, I suppose I could tell you a little more. Oh, and Clara, dear,do remember to pay attention to Oswin´s role in the next part of our tale; she _is_ your namesake, you know.¨

¨Why? She never met my mom.¨

¨Yes, true. But your grandfather _did_, and soon we´ll get to he part of the story where he had a terrible choice to make, and Oswin is the one who convinced him to do right.¨

¨What kind of choice, grandma?¨

¨Hush, now, Arthur. And remember, Clara, your grandfather was a very different man back then.¨

¨Then why´d he change?¨

¨He found something to live for. Now, Where was I? Oh, yes! Now I remember! So, as you can imagine, when Julian Bashir told his Commanding Officer what had happened, everyone had a bit of a problem wrapping their heads around what he was saying...¨

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT#DERPYLINEBREAKTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Dax still couldn't believe what had happened. Nobody had believed Julian at first, but after several witnesses had claimed they'd seen a large, mist-made wolf bounding across the promenade and through the walls, it had become crystal clear that Lizza Bashir was alive. Pinpointing where the patronus hadn't been too difficult; there was a simple equation that could be used to figure out where a message patronus had come from, and Lizza had indeed cast her familiar from the _Centurion_'s final resting place.

Exactly where she had gone was what worried her. An Auror lost in the Gamma Quadrant, possibly in enemy hand? It was a security risk. If whoever had captured her figured out she was a witch, they could lose whatever elements of surprise they had left. Honestly, though, everyone was more concerned with Lizza's warning than the fate of the young witch herself.

Whatever Lizza had meant by "the black ships", it obviously had to do with whomever or whatever had destroyed the _Centurion_ and her crew. As she sat at her consol in ops, Dax felt a chill go up her spine as she remembered Odo and O'Brian's discovery of the wreckage; hundreds of bodies, floating in the vacuum of space, some unidentifiable, and several other bodies had been unaccounted for, including the captain's.

She looked down at the list of people that hadn't been found among the wreckage; 57, in all. She scrolled down, and stopped when she came to Lizza's name. She tapped the file, and put it up on the large view screen.

"Alright people, here's what we knew for sure so far." Major Kira announced, coming in front of the screen and addressing the many officers that had been gathered.

"We know that at least one member of the _Centurion's_ missing crew is alive." She pointed at the screen" Auror-in-training Lizza Bashir, now MIA somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant. She was part of the IMoM's Accelerated Auror Training Program, or AATP for short. She is currently 20 years old, with a height of 5''7 and a wand made of Ebony and dragon heartstring, 11'' inches. She was an Ensign assigned to the _Centurion's_ security squad, and her Animagus Registry has her listed as being a large, black wolf with a crooked tail and gray paws. At some point during her possible capture, she sent a Patronus message to DS9: 'It will not end here.' Basically."

Dax brought up another list on the view screen.

"This is a list of all people and ships that have gone missing in the Gamma Quadrant." Kira told them. Dax put up another list alongside the first.

"This is a list of those people and ships that have disappeared or been destroyed under mysterious circumstances. " this list was considerably longer than the first.

"We don't know how many people may still be out there, but our first priority is locating what seems to be the highest power in the Gamma Quadrant; The Dominion. And for people who seem to be very important, we can't get a butt's worth of information about them or their whereabouts." The major continued angrily. Trying to get information on the Dominion had been driving her around the bend.

"Some people mention them fearfully, while others seem to worship them. They're most likely your typical corrupt communist government that's trying to control your life, while continuing the mantra of 'we know what's best for you.'" _That's cardassia in a nutshell. _Dax couldn't help but think.

"Sisko left a list of duties for me to assign to you before he left. Cheif O'Brian, you're to update the station's weapons systems, and rig all sensors so that they can pick up and filter signals comeing from the Gamma Quadrant. We need to know what's junk, what's communications, and what's distress signal." The major continued.

"Well, it could take a while to get a system like that up and running, especcially on a patchwork system like this one." the Cheif of Operations said, giving a nearby consol a kick." But I could have it up and running in a few days. As for weapons... well, wish me luck, I'll need it."

"Alright. Dax, you're to put in a request to the Intersteller Ministry of Magic for support Aurors. If we want to defend this station properly, we need an Auror Inquisition Office, whatever that is." Kira read, looking a bit confused at the orders she was reading.

"As I understand it, Auror Inquisiters organize and moniter long term wizarding expeditions into the deeper, uncharted reachs of the galaxy. They're like... just picture adventurers on steriods with magic and federal authority." Dax explianed." And wouldn't it be better if Julian contacted the IMoM? He is a wizard, after all."

"Yeah, but he's also head of medical staff, and he's personally involved in this case. At least, that's the excuse Sisko wrote down." She peered closer at the data pad." He also wrote that Bashir would have his hands full helping me to update the emergancy protocals, as well as ordering for medical shuttles to be installed in case the infermary ever goes down."

"Okay, what bout me?" Odo spoke up from the crowd, several of his deputies behind him.

"He want's you to help me and Bashir with the emergancy protocals. In short, we're all going to have lots of hour with minimal leave and no overtime pay." The bajoran finished. A few groans of distaste rose from the crowd.

"Okay, people, you heard the Major! Get to it!" Dax yelled. She couldn't help but notice that there were few medical staff present. She stopped on of the nurses as she made for the door.

"Where's Doctor Bashir?" she questioned.

"He's busy with a patient." The nurse answered, though her body movement told Dax that she was lieing.

As the nurse departed and Ops became more busy than before, Major Kira approached her.

"I noticed he wasn't here. What do you think he's doing?" she asked.

"No idea." Dax shrugged turning to her freind."Probably getting ready to tear the entire galaxy apart if we don't find her soon."

"Then we should probably get started before he makes a descision, then." Kira said. They went to meet Odo in Sisko's office, and Dax cast one last look at the door. Whatever happened, she knew what this felt like to the childish doctor. Except her own sibling had been dead for good, and everything was about to crazy in a way she didn't know.

**Okay, so that sounded like it came straight fromt he big orange room. Because it kind of did. This was how I cured my week-long writer's block, by picturing that this was a scene from N.C.I.S.. So sorry if it sounds ****_too_**** N.C.I.S. I just realize, I'm mentioning this show a lot, for those of you who recognized the ship joke at the end of the last chapter. Annnnnnd... I am all out of pre-written chapter for this fic, guys. Sorry. Maybe, during No-School November, I will come up with something...Cuz NaNoWriMo. Which means all chapters will be bed and hastily written. JK; I actually know what I'm doing. Really, I do!**

**Also, incomeing Warriors fic! Four parter(eventually), starting with a Shadowclan POV. It is basically a Warriors Adaptation of the DS9 plot, but with it's own twists and turns. And I may or may not deviate form the DS9 plot, so hang on to your fur, it's gonna get wild! As soon As this dumb computor glitch clears up, anyway*grumble grumble, grabs baseball bat*. You knowm, I'll just try posting on a device with bad internet. Don't judge me now, it may just work*Grabs DSi*.**

** Hold on! I spoke of Chuck Norris at the beginning of this chapter, and I watched Doctor Who yesterday... *MEGA GASP* I THINK I JUST FIGURED OUT THE DOCTOR´S REAL NAME! Why else would everyone, including himself, fear his name!? THE DOCTOR IS CHUCK NORRIS! WHO´S TO SAY HE WASN´T LYING WHEN HE SAID THAT TIME LORDS ONLY HAVE TWELVE REGENERATIONS?!**

** SOMEONE DO A FIC ON THIS CUZ I CAN´T POST NEW FICS CUZ GLITCH GOODBYE THISISEPICREVELATIONIHAVEHERE! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**Now if you excuse me, Lizza is into my Nutella, and she's a real pig.**

**L- *Oi! Am not!***

**They all say that.**


	9. SOS

** Yay! It's the one-year anniversary of _Siblings_! And before you say I'm wrong, take into account that this fic file was originally set up as an unsuccessful _Wings of Fire_ fic. I'de like to thank Jayfeattheris Awesome for allowing me to use this file slot, due to the fact that our profiles have glitched to where we can't post new fics. :(**

The search had been on for two weeks now.

Deep Space Nine had been turned into a base of operations for a large-scale rescue mission, with Federation ships coming in and out of the system as they looked for any clues that could lead to the hundreds of MIA officers and civilians. Of course, not all of the missing people were Federation citizens, so had had to put up with romulan presence on the station until their people could be found; and they weren't the only ones. Cardassians, bajorans, Klingons… there was even an apalapucian presence!

Normally, Julian would be ecstatic to be in close contact with the bivascular race; but his normal curiosity had been replaced by a raging dragon that would stop at nothing to find his sister. Even now, the possibility of her survival grew more and more remote, even if she had been alive when the patronus had come.

The Grand Ministry of Magic had also set up shop on the station…at the unfortunate inconvenience of one Garak. The tailor had been shooed out of his shop, which had quickly become a central command for at least fifty Aurors, along with other ministry personnel. Quark, too, had been forced out of his usual place of business, though to the romulans rather than the wizards.

Life as usual had come to a grinding halt as soon as Lizza's patronus had landed in Julian's living room. Everyone was trying to conduct their own search, getting under each other's feet and causing mass confusion on the radio waves. While one party tried to do a long-rage sensor sweep for magic, another would be trying to catch and analyze signals that might be used for locating the victimized ships and disabling their communications.

It was complete and total chaos.

"You know, we could try to do a quantum scan for patronus energy." Oswin suggested from his desk as he tended to the unfortunate victim of a table corner.

"I would have tried that already," Julian replied as he examined the damaged tissue," If not for all the idiots trying to do their own thing at once. All their signals would probably jam any kind of sensors we set up."

"Maybe we could ask them to… 'politely' shut up?" Garak suggested from where he was trying-and failing-to get the replicator to work.

"Never thought I would ever hear_ you_ say the words 'shut up'." Julian rolled his eyes, though his stiff form betrayed the amount of stress he was under.

"Have you told Chief O'Brian about this yet?" the Cardassian asked, jerking his thumb at the disobedient machine.

"Yes, but apparently, it's happening all over the station." Bashir shrugged." I guess it must be all the prats that are sucking up all the power on the station."

"Probably." Garak looked like he might be resisting the urge to ask what a 'prat' was; he had been friends with Julian for almost two years now, but still had some trouble understanding the British terminology that the doctor sometimes used.

"Hey; broken kneecap here!" complained the doctor's newest patient loudly." Can't you chatterbox's chatter when you _aren't _digging around inside me?"

"I am not 'digging around inside you', and your knee is _not_ broken. The worst you have is a bruise. You are perfectly capable of walking and working." Julian told the cranky Auror. _They can hunt down the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy, but one bruised knee and they wail like a child!_ He thought impatiently.

The extra thousand-or-so people on the station had given him little time to conduct his own search for Lizza; he had been dealing with hundreds of petty injuries a day for over a week now. From stubbed toes and bad bruises, to broken fingers and horrifically sore muscles, the only emergency so far had occurred when a klingon had stabbed an apalapucian for taking his place in a lunch line.

And that was when Garak had decided that it would be safer to eat in the infirmary than at his usual table. Personally, Julian couldn't blame him; the last time _he_ had eaten on the promenade, he had had to duck as a klingon threw a chair across the diner at a nearby bajoran(goodness knows why).

"You know, I thought Aurors were tougher than this; whining over a bruised knee." Oswin commented, licking a lollipop (_where in the world did she get _that_ from?_ He mused) and echoing Julian's own thoughts.

Since the discovery had been made, the _Destiny_ had maintained a near-constant presence at the station; meaning he and Oswin had had more time together than he had thought they would. When he wasn't working or worrying about Lizza, he was with Oswin. Usually they talked about the search, mostly because he brought it up. Other times, they were getting to know each other better.

This particular use of his spare time had earned him, as expected, as fair amount of teasing from Chief O'Brian. Unexpectedly, however, was that Garak was even worse. Haveing been kicked out of his shop, he seemed to have made it his personal duty to tease Julian every chance he got; a childish behavior that was highly unusual for someone like Garak.

For some reason, Oswin thought it was hilarious.

"I'll have you know that I've got an old childhood injury that sometimes resurfaces in this knee!" The Auror defended.

"Right. I bet you do." the wizard glared at her furiously. Julian noticed his hand twitching towards his wand.

"Oh, no you don't!" he snapped, snatching the wand out of it's holster before any spellcasting could be done.

A loud bang sounded through the air, together with what sounded like a curse word, but in a languag no-one in the room could understand...except Garak, aprarently. The cardassian was hopping on one foot, as if he had kicked the wall. Which, he had.

"Did you just swear in klingon?" Julian aske, one eyebrow raised. Of coarse Garak would know his own language, as well as english. But klingon? That was unexpected.

"So?" the now-limping tailor shrugged.

At the same time, Julian heard another set of uneven footsteps in the enrtyway of the infirmary, and turned his head to see Cheif O'Brian limping in. He opened his mouth to speak, but Julian cut him off.

"_Don't_ tell me guess; you kicked a replicator." he asked dryly.

"Uuuuuhhhhh..." the Cheif of Operations looked around embarassedly.

"It's okay; you aren't the only one. I yelled at the lift the other day. " Oswin told him. A beep sounded, and she stuck her lollipop(_Seriously HOW!?_) in her mouth as she answered her PD.

"How did she get _that_?" O'Brian asked. Julian shrugged. The Auror tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes, yes, you can go." he handed back the wand as the wizard left at a brisk, limping pace."Don't let the door hex you on the way out." he added under his breath.

"Oh...Oh cadet Teagan you didn't..." Oswin said slowly. She let out a heavey sigh." Alright, alright, I'll be right there. Don't you _dare_ touch anything else, I'm going to get Cheif Solvix." She closed the PD with another heavy sigh.

"What was that all about?" O'Brian asked.

"Cadet Teagan just got her hand caught in a engine panel. She moved some wires to try and get it out, but she ended up activateing the _Destiny_'s seige mode by accident. The electrical outburst took ot her comm badge, nearly killed her, and now she and her boyfriend are trapped in a maitanance closet. And her hand is still stuck." Oswin explained rubbing her forehead as if the cadet in question had given her a headache.

"So... why did she call you, then?" Garak inquired.

"I'm her supervisor. Her sister is one of the missing officers, and cadets with missing family members are alowed to help with the search."

Suddenly, a deep, beeping alarm sounded throughout the statiuon. Red lights flashed along the walls as the code red sounded. Oswin flipped her PD back open.

"Teagan, what did you pull?" she asked opressivly. Julian thought he could hear a faint protest on the other end. Oswin lowered the PD, looking worried "It's not her. We're under attack."

"Cheif, Garak, get to the back room. Oswin, unlock the emergency kits." he rushed to his desk as they, supriseingly, did as they were told.

"Wait! Listen!" O'Brian suddenly yelled. For the first time, Julian noticed how odd the alarm sounded. He furrowed his brow, confused.

"What is that?" instead of it's usual blareing, the alarm was now a pattern of consecutive beeps; three short, three long, three more short, and then a breif pause before starting all over again.

"I recognize that from somewhere..." Cheif O'Brian said slowly.

"It's morse code!" Oswin gasped. Julian looked at her, astonished.

"You know morse code?" he queried. She shushed him, tipping her head to the side.

After a few repetitions of the noise, she spoke again." It's S.O.S.. Someone's calling for help."

"At the same time, Julian's comm badge went off. "Sisko to Bashir; report to opps imediatly."

"Looks like we're about to be busy." O'Brian comented.

"You mean _I'm_ about to be busy; you foot is broken."

"No it's not!"

"_Yes_ it _is_!"

"How do _you_ know?"

"OI! Would you both just shut up and do as you're told!?" Oswin yelled.

"Yes, mum." both men said as one. She gave them a severe look.

Julian's face fell."I'll be going now."

"Yes, you probably should." Oswin told him. He walked towards the entrance.

"Oi, stupid!" she called after him. He whirled around. Garak sniggered, and ceased as the doctor sent him a look of "shut up".

"Get done in time for dinner. You promised me steak, remember." she said, and Julian blushed.

"Yes, you promised her steak, Julian." Garak said.

"_You_, shut it!" the doctor became even redder, with embarassment or anger... or both. And with that, he turned and left for opps.

**LoL, free cookies for whomever photoshops Garak with a troll face. I just HAVE to see that(grant it, I've made him a little OOC for this fic). I really don't know who's point of veiw this chapter was in. For a moment it was all Julian, but then it was more like C.S. Lewis' writeing...Also, I still need some obscuer James Bond and chuck Norris references. I've got MANY Chuck Norris JOKES, but not any referances(shorthand: I'm too lazy to watch Walker: Texas Ranger. I blame this NaNoWriMo).**

**Speaking of NaNoWriMo, it has now been exactly a year since I started this fic. It was a NaNo challenge from my freind, Jayfeattheris Awesome. I look back at chapeter one and cringe, but I'm gonna leave it as it is for nostalgia's sake.**

**g*Julian and Oswin, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g...***

**J*Make it stop!***

**Nope. Even with the power of an author, that is the ONE thing I just can't do...**

**j*Why not?!***

**Cuz it give me the lolz. :)**

**g*Julian and Oswin, sitting in a tree...***

**J*NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!***


	10. The Search Continues

**J-* Amberstar of Thunderclan does not own Harry Potter or Deep Space Nine***

"Major Kira, report." Sisko ordered as the odd alarm continued.

"We're getting reports of every sound system on the station, going off." she informed him, trying to cease the beeping that was coming from her console. "Wait, check that; we have reports coming in of all sound systems from here to Bajor going off!"

"By the sky!" a raptorian exclaimed, his ears pricking up with surprise.

"I agree." a black, middle-aged officer nearby said.

"How do we stop it?" Dax inquired, slamming a fist down on her console in vain.

"We don't!" Sisko looked towards the turbo lift in time to see Doctor Bashir stepping out of it.

"Doctor Bashir, what took you so long?" Sisko asked.

"What do you mean by _that_?" Kira asked at the same time as he came up to Sisko, ignoring her.

"Commander, Oswin says it's Morse code. It's an S.O.S." he told him, eyes unreadable and jaw clenched.

"Dax, is here any way to tell who it is?" Sisko asked.

"That would be aaaaaaa..." she banged on the console one more time"...negative sir."

"Any trace of magic in the signal?" Sisko asked the nearby OLIO. He was tall, with dirty blond hair and thick, black-rimmed square glasses. Contrary to most daywear for this century, he wore a dark gray turtle neck, and his denim jeans seamed out of place as well, not to mention his sand-shoes.

"None at all, that I can tell." he said nervously, double-checking the nearby consol.

"Who are you?" Bashir asked, stepping up to face the OLIO, who fumbled with the wire-covered device he was holding in an attempt to shake Julian's hand.

"Oh, I'm uh, Eric. Eric Caimo, of the uh, Auror's OLIO project." he stuttered when he had finally succeeded.

"OLIO? Lizza never mentioned that to me." Julian seemed to challenge._ Oh, boy._ Sisko thought._ And Dax said he was acting pretty normal today..._ It seemed as if Julian's recently-acquired temperament was making another unpleasantly awkward appearance.

"It's, a, it's a new system. For the Aurors." Caimo explained." On-Line Intelligence Operative. The idea is to make it so that what happened to your sister, uh, doesn't happen to any other Aurors."

"How do you know about my sister?" Julian snapped._ Rats._

"She's one of only three Aurors missing in the Gamma quadrant! I read all their files and Commander Sisko said your name so I assumed that you were _that_ Bashir." Caimo explained quickly.

Julian seemed to settle down, but still looked at Caimo with narrowed eyes.

"That, and I was her assigned Rem contact for the halfway point of the _Centurion_'s mission.

"The Rem what-now?" Kira asked.

"A Rem stone allows witches or wizards to contact someone in their dreams. Halfway through the mission, I was supposed to come to DS9 so she could contact me and give me a midway report. It was meant as a test to check her competence in dream visiting." he told her, his stutter leaving him as he went through the motions of sharing his knowledge._ Good. Now that that stutter is gone..._

"Doctor, you and Caimo wait in my office." he said. Julian bit his lip but did as he was told. Caimo followed him, looking worried about being in the same room as Bashir...alone.

"Dax." he addressed. Her head shot up again to look at him. He glared at the nearest speaker. "Shut that thing up."

"Yes sir!" she replied tiredly.

He turned to go to his office, adding as he did so "And somebody get me Chief O'Brian!"

He marched into his office, and he heard the volume of the beeping lower a little. The Ministry of Magic officials, Julian, and Caimo all looked at him expectantly as he sank down into his chair. It had only been a few minutes, but the alarm was starting to give him a headache.

"So? Can we begin _now_, Commander Sisko?" the foremost Ministry personnel inquired irritably. She was a stately-looking older woman, and there were several scars on her face that indicated her past as a Auror. The other official was a man of similar severity, with hawk-like blue eyes and white hair cut in military fashion. _Not_ people he would want to cross if he were a dark wizard, Sisko decided.

"Yes, you can." he sighed. He glanced at his clock. It wasn't even 13 yet._ 9 more hours to go._ He groaned internally. All he wanted to do right now was sleep.

"What's going on, Sir?" Julian asked reproachfully.

"We believe we may have a way to contact Lizza Bashir. However, it will only work once, if all. It depends on whether or not she had the rem stone with her." the blue-eyed Auror informed him. At once, the doctor seemed to explode.

"And how long did you plan on keeping this to youselves!? You had the rem stone operation set up for her mission, and you've known she was alive for weeks! Are you telling me you've been making all this radio noise for nothing?!" he burst. The Auror just looked at him calmly.

"We were doing research. We've been asking around the station, and all witnesses seem to recall seeing our missing cadet with you and the local tailor. We weren't sure whether or not she would have had the rem stone with her, but at this point, all other operations have failed." The Auror continued, disregarding the outburst.

"Why the bloody ***** did you keep this from us?!" Julian continued. Sisko groaned inwardly again.

"Because we weren't sure if it would work." the Ministry woman told him, shrugging. "You have to understand, the rem stone is a highly complicated magical artifact. They are incredibly difficult to make, and they can only be used once."

"Do you mind explaining to me how they work?" Captain Sisko asked. The two officials looked at each other, and the woman took out her wand. She gave it a flick, and the glass doors of his office darkened along with the windows.

"_Muffliato_." she muttered, flicking her wand again in the direction of the door.

"Caimo, begin." she ordered. The blond nodded, and set his equipment on the floor before taking something out of his pocket. It was a stock-gray oval stone, attached to a leather string that was long enough for someone to wear around their neck.

"_This_ is a rem stone." he told them." If a witch or wizard is competent enough, they can use it to contact people in their dreams. Obviously, though, it only works if the person they're trying to contact is asleep."

"Yes, we get that part. Tell us what we _don't_ know." Julian snapped grumpily. _I really wish we could do something about his violent mood swings._

"W-well," Caimo stuttered," it also only works if you've _met_ the person. You can't have just _seen_ them; you have to know them in some way or another. Talked to them, be able to remember certain behavioral patterns, stuff like that."

"As her contact, we went out for tea the day before the _Centurion_ left. I was scheduled to arrive at DS9 a month and a half later, and take a heavy sleeping draught before going to bed, to be sure I didn't miss the appointed time. After we received news that the_ Centurion _was destroyed, my travel plans, as you could imagine, got canceled." he explained further. Sisko held up one hand to stop him from continuing.

"Why Deep Space Nine?" he asked.

"The rem stone can only reach so far. About the same distance as the average patronus, actually." Caimo said, looking just a tiny bit proud at the extent of his knowledge." Lizza's patronus managed to make it back here from the Gamma quadrant, but depending on how far away she was from it in the days after casting, the patronus would have likely have faded away before reaching its final destination if the trip had been any longer than it was."

"That doesn't answer my question." He said, eyebrow raised. _Darn these nerds and their elongated explanations!_

"Actually, if you think about. With the wormhole, DS9 is the closest place to the Gamma quadrant. If the mission had been here in Alpha, Lizza would have been able to contact earth from practically any point in this quadrant. The mission would also have been a test to see if my theory would work." He told them, looking even more confident.

"And what theory might that be?" Julian asked accusatorily. Caimo seemed to melt once more under the doctor's rage. Sisko physically sighed. He knew that if he tried to talk Bashir into an attitude adjustment, he would just crossed arms and a tapping foot the whole time, along with a blank glare of "You're wasteing my time".

"That, uh, that rem waves can travel through the wormhole. If that didn't work, then I would go to another outpost near the edge of the Alpha quadrant, and the _Centurion_ would send a signal through the wormhole to check in." he told them, his fidgeting starting to effect his hair, which was –or rather, had been- brushed back neatly.

"So you just went ahead and gave her an assignment without knowing it would even work?"

"Bashir!"

"What!"

"Keep in mind that this was a training run!" Commander Sisko resisted the urge to grind his teeth; the sooner they found Lizza, the better; he wasn't sure how long he could stand this new, grumpy Julian Bashir. "It was an exercise that ended up turning into a bloodbath. If they had known about their attackers, the _Centurion_ would not have been sent through."

"We are not to blame for what happened. What matters now is that we may have a way to contact Lizza." The woman pointed out. Commander Sisko racked his brain, trying to remember what she called herself.

"We came here so we could gather all available known contacts of hers. Family, friends, fellow recruits. The number of those people that we've been able to get over here is, thus far, disappointingly low." The man said. _Agent_ _Libbs, _Sisko remembered. Bit of an odd name.

"How many?" Julian asked, a hopeful tone to his voice._ Finally, a mood _other_ than angry._

"With you and Caimo? Six. Approximately. Maybe seven, if she was told enough about that tailor." Julian's face fell back to a frown. Seven people was better than none, in Benjamin's opinion. He couldn't help but imagine what it would feel like if Jake were in Lizza's position; lost, with only seven people that could help him, on the other side of the galaxy, with means only to contact them in their dreams.

It was a feeling that Sisko didn't like.

"We'll need to contact that tailor and debrief him. If Lizza tries to contact any of the people we have gathered, they need to know what to look for; they have to be able to tell dream from reality." The woman continued.

"Okay." Julian seemed to force the word out.

Sisko suddenly realized that the alarm had stopped. _Thank goodness! _The annoying beeping, combined with Bashir's mood, had started to give him a headache.

His relief was short-lived as the alarm turned back on, louder than ever. He was on the verge of swearing.

"Alright, you have what you need!" he yelled over the blare." Let's hope it works!"

The ministry official waved her wand, and the tint to the office faded as she and Libbs walked out of the office. Caimo let out a small yelp, scrambling to gather his wire-covered device as he realized that the meeting had been dismissed. He left the room promptly, casting Julian an ahpressive look before waddling oddly out the door with hi burden, trying to catch up with his associates before they went down the turbo lift.

"Bashir." he halted his officer before he could make it to the door. He didn't intend to give him a reproachful chat about his manners (which would fall on deaf ears)." Could you please tell Dax to trace the signal? And send Chief O'Brian up to help her if you see him."

"The Chief will be occupied for a little, I'm afraid." the doctor explained. There was an ecstatic note in his voice that betrayed his eagerness to search for his sister with this new information."He kicked a replicator. So did Garak. And Quark. And an alarming number of other people. Oh, and a cadet on the _Destiny _got her hand caught in an engine compartment. She's trapped in a closet with her boyfriend."

Sisko nodded." I'll send someone to help her, and I'll ask a few non-essential personell to help out around the infermary. "

"Thank you sir." He gave his commander a respectful nod before walking out the door.

420 days previosly...

The vorta walked stiffly into the transporter room. He had jerked the veiwing band off of his head so fast that the eyepeice had snapped back into his face, and he now doned a black eye for his actions.

However, it was a sickening, wrentching feeling in his gut that made cause for his retreat to the empty room, rather than the embarassment he had used to mask his true feelings. Upon putting the band on his head, he had seen hundreds of bodies floating in the open space, some of them with their lungs having been pulled through their mouths by the vacume.

The images flashed through his brain once more, and he stumbled to the nearest transport pad, throwing up. Still retching, he gripped his stomache, as if willing the nasea to not return. Mabye even greater than his stomache ache was his fear; no matter how he tried to confort his mind into thinking it wasn't true, he knew that it was.

He was defective.

And everybody knew what happened to defective vorta.

He wasn't supposed to pity the people they had slaughtered today, _murdered_, today. And yet, he did. It wasn't something that could be helped. He had helped them commit a terrible, terrible crime, and stood by, doing nothing, saying nothing, out of fear for his life. The was only room in the Dominion for perfection; horrible, merciless perfection, and he didn't meet the standards.

The red-headed vorta shut his eyes tight, as if by closing them he could whisk himself away to a place without fear or death, or fear of death. Soon, he opened them again, and made to back out of the transporter, so as to beam his vomit into the vacuum of space. Then the thought occurred to him that his vomit would be floating around with all the dead bodies, and he jerked forwards again, dry heaving.

And through his haze, stinging vision, his eyes caught on something most peculiar laying on the floor, at the very back corner of the transporter.

It was a rock.

There was nothing particularly special about this rock. It was an ordinary, blank gray stone, with a double strap of brown leather looped through a hole at one end.

Then again, not all things were as they seemed, not for the vorta, or for the rock. The vorta shuttered, just as he had fifteen minutes before, as if reliving a sensation that had not at all pleased him. He had, in fact, had been experiencing this feeling ever since coming near the transporter, but had not noticed it until now. He had had this feeling, as previously mentioned, not too long ago, during the very act he was so ashamed of.

A woman of thin build, black hair, and vibrant green eyes had caused this previously mentioned feeling, a feeling that was not a feeling but more like a sense of understanding, or recognition. He bent down and took the stone up, turning it through his hand and examining every aspect of it.

After a while, this vorta, whose name you might recall as being Avon, strode towards the control panel, and beamed his puke into space. All the while, something new now occupied his mind;

The impossibility of his seemingly new-found sixth sense.

**So here we have Caimo, our brand-spank'n new nerd with glasses. And a turtle neck. Got to love that turtle neck. And I wonder whatever could be wrong with Avon? (dur, totally not obvious.) And oh dear, he has the rem stone. And yes, I was kind of inspired by the Dreamvisitors from Wings of Fire.**

**The word Rem actually comes from the Familiars series though. "Rem Walkers" are the denizens of the dream world in that series.**

**C-*Can I have a chapter all to myself?***

**No.**

**C-* Why not? Everybody else has had their own chapter! Dax has had more credit than me!***

**D-*To be fair, I have better hair than you anyway.***

**C-*What's that supposed to mean?***

**Oh dear, I better go intervene before things get too PG. See Ya!**


	11. Found?

**...I got hooked to Owl City...**

**...I've been watching an assortment of _Watership Down_ media...**

"Sir, even if we manage to trace the signal, how do you think we'll get to them?" Major Kira pressed the next day as he sat down at his desk, sipping his coffee. Doctor Bashir would surely reprimand him on the amount of caffeine he was consuming presently(practically an overdose), but Commander Sisko had been up all night, and he really needed it.

"Your point?" he asked, barely awake. To be honest, he had kind of missed Kira's question.

"Commander, this station clearly lacks the power to defend itself, let alone rescue who-knows how many hostages, even with the cooperation of all the people that are already here." She continued. He remembered with a start the conversation he had had with Admiral Ross almost a week and a half ago.

"I have the situation handled. I contacted Admiral Ross about a week ago, and he's agreed to help me." He explained, yawning. He cast a quick glare at the sound system; the reason he had been up all night was because the beeping had not ceased.

"That's great!" the Major exclaimed, her face lighting up with surprise and curiosity." What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go to Earth, and fill out a few weeks worth of paper work." he yawned. Even mentioning the prospect of siting at a desk reading the papers all day made his back hurt and the tendons in his hand ache. He wasn't looking forwards to when they hurt for real.

"Paperwork for what, exactly?" she pressed eagerly.

"That's a suprise." he told her, grinning pleasantly. The only thing that would make this whole ordeal worthwhile was the looks on everybody's faces when he swooped in with the ship. Major Kira looked at him dubiously.

"I'll be leaving later today; I'm placing you in charge, and Dax has her orders." he informed her, getting to the point. A part of him felt uneasy leaving his beloved station in the hands of somebody else, even if it was for only a couple of weeks.

"We'll keep the place clean." Kira nodded." At least, we'll try to."

"Good. Dismissed." he told her. She turned and left the office.

Sighing, Sisko got to his feet, stretching. He cast another glance at the blaring speaker. _Hurry it up, Old Man_, he thought,_before this beeping drives me insane._

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Maybe we could try a focused EM burst to shut down all the other signals?" Dax called to the backside of Chief O'Brian, who was digging around in a wall panel.

"It would stop the beeping, too." He yelled back. The horrible noise was twice as loud in here, as they had decided that gathering as many signal recipiants in one place as they could would increase their chances on finding the radio trail.

Usually finding the trail of a signal wouldn't be such a big problem; but this signal was so light and small compared to all the noise everybody else on the station was making. It was like trying to find and untangle a thread of spider silk from a pile of strung beads.

Which, in case one didn't know, is extremely difficult.

Especially since the owners of said strung beads refused to remove their jewelry from the pile.

"If only they all weren't so stubborn..." she muttered under her breath as she recalled the day before, when she and Chief O'Brian had cooperated with Odo to try and get all of the noise-makers to cease their signals. A majority of them had refused, claiming that she and the Chief were too incompetent to make the plan work.

They hadn't mocked their intelligance out in the open, exactly; but Dax knew how to read between the lines. At least the Ministry had shut down their signals, and the apalapucians had been kind enough to do so as well.

So now here they were, trying to enhance the signal enough to follow it.

"We could always ask Odo to hack into their systems and shut them down from there." she suggeted.

"That would probably be quaified as an abuse of power, Dax. They've all got diplomatic immunity." O'Brian told her, voice muffled by both the wall and the noise.

"Oh, well. Worth a try." she sighed dramatically, turning to look back at the consol she was working on, stareing at the data so as to better understand it.

"Say what?" the Chief called.

"Nothing!" she shouted back, continueing to stare at the console. For some reason, no matter how hard she tried to run the numbers through her head, all she could think of was that persistant beeping, and the red lights that had been flashing in her face for the past twenty hours.

_Uuug, when will it stop!?_

_"Sisko to Dax." _Her hand snapped to her comm badge immidiatly, and action that was practically instinct among Starfleet officers.

"What is it?" she asked.

_"You and the Chief getup here to Opps imidiatly. You need to see this." _came the baritone of her old friend. There was a solomn tone to his voice that sent cold trickles of dread down her spine.

"Right. We're on our way." she told him, tapping her badge once more to end the conversaton. Another sense of unease wormed it's way into her mind; the signal traffic had been so terrible over the past few weeks that most comm badge signals sounded fuzzy, but even with the blareing alarm going off all around her, she could tell that Sisko's message had been cleared than ever.

"What'd you say?" O'Brian yelled out for about the hundreth time total.

"Commander Sisko want's us up in Opps." she practically screamed." It sounded inportant, we really should hurry!"

"Okay!" the red-headed engineer backed out of the panel, his pants scuffed and his hands dirty. He wiped his hands on his shirt as he stood up, twisting and stretching to try and loosen up the multitude of sore spots he had most likely obtained from being crouched on the floor all night.

Dax took one last look at the console before walking out the door, Chief O'Brian following close behind, stopping every once in a while to flex one of his legs. It was blissfully silent out here compared to the cocaphany in the room they were leaveing behind, and Dax reveled in how quite the beeping sounded out in the hallways of the station.

However, even if it was quieter, it was far less peacefull. She was suprised as she and the Chief rounded a corner into the hallways closest to the promanade; Starfleet officers were scrambling in every which way, herding citizens and carrying tools, trying to get to where they were going.

Dax and O'Brian both let out yelps of suprise as they were slammed into from behind as two of Odo's deputy's barged past them, rushing towards the promanade. _What the heck is going on here?_

"Bloody ****!?" cursed O'Brian, voiceing her own thoughts in his own, accented way.

"Come on!" she shouted, running down the same pathways the deputies had taken, dodgeing inbetween varios bodies, crates, and rushing people as she did so. Dread sat like a cold stone in her gut; there was only a few reasons this much panic and acivity would be going on, and none of those situations were good.

After squeezing through the crush of people at the hallyway's entrance to the promanade, Dax was met with even more rushing figures. A majority of the station's citizens were being led into the numerous battle bunkers that were scattered across the promanade; large rooms with powerful kinetic barriers that could be used to shelter the station's none battle-ready inhabitants in case of an on-station threat.

Not looking back to see if Miles was still behind her, Dax weaved her way through to the turbo lift, which was also painfully crowded. She kept being knocked down and stepped on as she tried to get to the lift before it and it's cargo of armed Starfleet officers.

_Drat, this is a tight squeeze! _She thought as O'Brian practically slammed into her in a desparate attempt to get on. She found herself packed tight inbetween him and a rather larger engineer who was covered with sweat. _Purple oceans! This is terrible!_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTDERPYLINEBREAKTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

After finnaly climbing out of the unpleasant conditions of the turbo lift, everyone inside poured out into Opps, phaser rifles at the ready as they spread out into various formations. Commander Sisko stood in center of it all, Major Kira at his side, who was looking a Doctor Bashir worriedly.

The doctor himself was glareing mutiounessly at a data pad, eyes dark, yet alight with rage at the same time. Dax once again felt dread squirming in her gut- or maybe that was just her symbiote reacting to her emotions.

"Good, you here, Old Man." Sisko greeted tiredly. He looked like he desparately needed some sleep, above all else.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"Some kind of...thing beamed into Opps. It-_he_-called himself a jem'hadar. He gave us that..." Kira gestured to the data pad in Julian's grip; Dax was pretty sure he might actually snap the pad in half , his knuckles were so white. In fact, she swore she could see blood on the edges, as if he had gripped it so hard he had hurt himself.

"They claim to have destroyed the bajoran colonies." Sisko told her." And... they claimed responsability for the destruction of several of the missing ships."

"Let me see." she reached out to take the data pad from Julian, suprised that he let go so easily; there was, indeed, blood on his hands, and on the pad. She glanced at the list of ship names, and her heart plummeted when she saw the word _Centurion_; likely the cause for Julian's anger. She scrolled through the list, recognizeing more and more names from the list of missing ships that Major Kira had compiled.

"He said that the Dominion wouldn't allow any more ships from the Alpha quadrant to enter through the wormhole." Sisko continued.

"That's bloody rubbish!" Chief O'Brian shouted angrily.

Sisko nodded tiredly."I'll be leaving once we come down off of alert. Dax and O'Brian; take this chance to trace the S.O.S. signal. We got a little help from Captain Libbs."

"Yes, sir." the two of them chorused.

"The rest of you, keep at your posts until I say otherwise. Major Kira, I want all outgoing traffice to the Gamma Quadrant put to a halt; tell anyone who'se still out there to return imediatly and to be alert to attack vessels." the Commander ordered without pause.

"_Black_ attack vessles, Commander." Julian added unexpectantly. They all turned to him, and realization lit up on Major Kira's face.

"He's right; they were black. Black and purple." she told them, wide-eyed.

Lizza's warnng echoed through Dax's head:

"_Beware the black ships. They are hostile." _The missing Auror had been warning them about the Dominion all along, even if she hadn't realized it.

_If only we had told people what she said! _she thought as she realized how something as pointless as a color could have saved the crews of the 12 ships that had been lost in the past few weeks. Not that it would do them much good now.

"Alright, People! Get to work!" Sisko shouted. People scattered to their various duties, the armed guards standing with their heads erect like meerkat sentries, turning every once in a while to check another direction.

Dax jumped down to the central console and began to trace the signal. Now that all that other radio traffic was gone, she could do her job properly. The beeping was starting to annoy her again though, even through the clamor of the other officers giving orders or shooing one another out of the way.

"Dax, I think I've got it!" O'Brian announced satifyingly, tapping a few more buttons.

"Traceing the signal." she told him. She sensed someone coming up behind her, and glanced back breifly to see Julian, who was looking at the veiwscreen intensly. She turned back to her work. _Please, oh, please, let this work!_

A loud _ping_ sounded, and on the veiwscreen, she watched as the computor narrow down the location, little by little. Finnaly, it stoped, and she locked the coordinates into the station's database before they could be lost.

"We found it! It's somewhere in the Gamma Quadrant, in unexplored space." she announced. She felt like her legs might turn to jelly. They had done it! After all this time, seven people who were thought to be dead were finally going to go home.

She looked back at Julian, grinning.

The expresion on his face was undescribable. But she knew it was a good thing. They had found Lizza, and now they just had to go and get her. She grabbed his arm comfortingly.

"We found her." she told him. He looked as if he wasn't sure whether to be happy or more worried than ever before."We'll get her back."

"I hope so." he said, looking back up at the screen. She pulled him into a hug, and couldn't help but remember a similarly emotional day from more than a year ago.

**Whoa, hectic chapter. I just realized, most of the newest chapters are really just fillers with no point at all, with minimal plot progression. but hey, I like these little "small talk" chapters. Speaking of small talk... I think that the next chapter might have some major feels in it. **

**I just now also realized that most of this chapter was Dax and O'Brian running through a crowd. I suppose I just needed a reason to write a "stuck in an elevator with a sweaty guy" scene, I guess, because even_ I _didn't see that scene coming.**

** Thanks to everyone who actually knows that this fic exists! I know you know, cuz even though you don't favorite or follow it, the view traffic graph goes up by forty or fifty every time I post a new chapter. I suppose if I want more reviews, I'm going to have to ask questions, aren't I?**

** Soooo...What do you think of the characters so far? Too OOC? Too canon for your extremely AU tastes? You position on the Os-shir ship I have installed into this Pottertrek fic of mine? What type of wand do you think Julian should have? What wood and core would fit his personality? **

** This is too many questions isn't it? Maybe I wasn't getting many reviews cuz I never really asked for them that much? I'm one of those people who wither like a plant without water if they don't get feedback on their writing. I'm writing an actual _book_ book, like, not a fanfiction book, and I bug my friends, parents, and teachers to read excerpts and give feedback. Soooo...**

** Perhaps I should get down on my knees and beg for reviews at the end of each chapter?**

**...**

**Nah!**

**L-*Can I please have another chapter now?***

******No. The fic may be about you, but the entire fic doesn't revolve around you.******

********L-*That doesn't make any sense.*********

**********^^ I know!**********


	12. Two is a Crowd

** I have a prompt for a Doctor Who/Star Trek:DS9 crossover fic. If anybody's interested, here is a little information:**

** _Amiss In the Woods: The Doctor, Amy, and Rory arrive on a deserted planet only to learn that it's not so deserted; a stranded crew of Starfleet officers-along with their vorta P.O.W.-are waiting in a cave to be rescued. However, when one officer is found dead, and Julian and Rory are taken by a mysterious monster, The Doctor and Amy must team up with the remaining officers in order to track and kill the creature; before _it_ kills them all._**

** If any of you are at all interested, PM me, or leave a review. I can't write it myself, because for one thing I don't have the time, and another thing, I still can't post new fics due to a glitch. I'll tell you the basic plot I have mapped out in my head, and you can have the fic if you want it. I'll read some of your fics to see how you writing is(I'm a very judgmental person when it comes to writing), and if I like your style, you can have it.**

** Alright, now that that's out of the way, heres the reason you all came here for; a new chapter!**

The next few weeks were agony to everyone. They had found the missing officers, but still didn't have clearance to retrieve them. The amount of stress everyone was under had caused multiple fights to break out, and Odo's security force was stretched grumpily thin, even with all the help he was getting from Starfleet Security.

Commander Sisko had been gone ever since the Dominion had "officially" claimed responsibility for the attacks. What he was doing, nobody knew. Personally, Oswin hoped it was taking so long because he was requesting a ship. A ship would be nice. Actually, considering they were planning on taking on a compound in the middle of Dominion territory, a whole _fleet_ would be nice.

She wondered the halls aimlessly, thinking. Last night, she had had... not a _vision_, exactly, but a feeling perhaps. It had been a while since she had had a vision, and she still didn't know what over half of it had been about.

What she did know was that it had come true; she had, indeed, met a tall, dark-haired man in a bar, who's friends had dared him to ask her out. She wasn't exactly sure what was so special about his future that she would have a vision about him.

Or maybe it wasn't_ his_ future; maybe it was _hers_. She shook the embarrassing thought from her head. _Certainly visions tell of significant things only; not little personal venture such as finding your future betrothed—stop that!_ She scolded herself. She wished she had a brick wall to bang her head against.

The feeling she had had last night was one of dread, and it hadn't belonged to herself; yet she had been completely alone in her quarters, and there had been no background hum of thoughts under the feeling, so it hadn't been another person either. The feeling had come out of nowhere._ What the heck am I seeing? Since I got here, I've had more visions than I had in the last five years combined!_

So occupied she was with her own thoughts, that she failed to sense the storm of emotional turmoil a corner turn ahead of her. And by the time she noticed him, it was too late to turn back. _Julian!_ She groaned inwardly.

His emotions had been in total chaos since the Morse Code signal had come through, and as such, it had turned him into a walking migraine for her. When they were in a crowd, it was bearable, of course; she could just slip his emotions into an imaginary raindrop, like she did for everyone else around her.

But when they were alone, like this, with only his mind and nobody else's… It was just unbearable.

The worst part was that she didn't have the heart to tell him. So instead, she had been subtly (she hoped) avoiding him. Which made her feel even guiltier, because she really, _really_ liked him and hated seeing him in this state; seeing, and _feeling_. Sure, on the outside, he was just worried and impatient; but on inside, the level of anxiety, stress, worry, anger, and other negative emotions that were pouring out of him was enough to make her scream. She was surprised that_ he_ didn't scream.

She didn't want to make a broken man feel shattered. Besides; the turmoil did subside by infinite amounts whenever she was around him, and she _had _just been thinking about him, in all his handsome, pointy-nosed glory—wait, wut?!**(LoL)**

"Oh, hi, Julian." She managed to say, wondering how in the world he had appeared all randomly like that. Was he summoned by her thoughts, or something?

"Oswin! Hello." He stammered back. She sensed a flicker of embarrassment from him, and wondered if he had been thinking about her, just like she had been—_SHUT UP, STUPID BRAIN!_

They stood there for a while, awkwardly. _Say something Oswin… just break up the awkward…_ she bit her lip, and subconsciously glanced over Julian's right shoulder. Usually that was where Garak would be hovering, teasing remark or sly comment about the situation at the ready.

***Que flashbacks***

***Last week***

_"Did you forget how to talk, doctor?"_

***Last month***

_"Perhaps if you stare at her long enough, she actually start to walk, doctor."_

***Yesterday***

_"Maybe if you pretend she's invisible, it will be easier, doctor."_

***Right now***

*crickets*

"Sooooo…" Julian started.

"Yeah. Nice seeing you." Oswin barely responded.

"Yeah. Okay. Uh, bye." He said. They both started forwards, only to find each other block their paths. They tried to move to the side multiple times, only to have the other blocking their way still. They broke into a fit of giggles and snorts as they found themselves trapped in a crowd of two.

"Sorry!" Oswin giggled.

"Oh, here!" he directed her around, solving the problem.

They stood there, laughing for a few moments longer, until Julian cleared his throat and put his frown back on.

"Well, goodbye." He told her turning.

"See you!" she said, returning to her walk, her head buzzing with thoughts and pounding from her lone encounter with her boyfriend—wait, when had he become her boyfriend? They had only known each other for two months, and it wasn't even official!

"Wait, Oswin!" his voice called back suddenly. She whirled around, heart pounding in her throat.

"Yeah?" she asked as he sprinted back up to her.

"I- I was just, uh, wondering w-why you've been… avoiding me?" he stuttered. It was a bit of a mumble as well; a cute mumble-_SHUT UP!_

"Well, I…um…" _oh, rats, oh poop, oh SNAP what do I say?_

"Don't like me?" he finished for her witheringly. There was a puppy-like quality to his eyes, and the waves of emotions coming from him grew fiercer.

"No, no! I _do_ like you, I really do!" She felt her face growing hot. _Oh, boy, I'm gonna have to tell him, aren't I? _"It's just… You give me headaches."

"So, you think I'm annoying?"

"No! Not like _that_! It's you emotions that give me headaches!"

"So, you think I'm too emotional? Am I really that transparent?"

"_NO_! You numbskull! It's my _powers_ that give me headaches whenever I'm around you! Your head is too noisy!"

"I thought you said that it was my emotions that gave you headaches?" he said cheekily. The waves of anger and confusion died down a little.

"Don't you get smart with me, mister!" she put her hands on her hips, waving a finger at him. She let out a frustrated huff of mock anger, turning her back to him and crossing her arms. "Where's Garak when you need him and his weird comments?"

"Careful; you might jinx this ever-so-peaceful hallway with his conveniently-timed presence." Julian told her, sounding amused but relieved. The same emotions flickered through the air around him before evaporating.

"We wouldn't want that, would we?" she said, turning her head back to look at him. The amusement had left his eyes, replaced yet again by the dark look he met the world with these days. It was all most people saw when they looked at him, but she was the only one who knew what lay behind it.

"Why _does_ he tease you so much about us?" she asked, stepping towards the end of the hallway, where the large corner windows opened up to the eternal night. The wisps of nebulas glowed eerily, and the distant sun of Bajor glowed brightly. The _Destiny_ drifted along in orbit around the station, and she could catch glimpses of her crewmates going about their business as the night shift officers passed by the many lit windows of the starship. She really hoped that Cadet Teagan wouldn't do anything rash now that they had been sitting here for three weeks.

She hoped this same thing about Julian.

"Actually, it's about our first date. You remember, right?" Julian began, joining her at the window.

"Oh, yeah. He ran off just as I came over." She recalled. She could still remember the tailor's paled look, and the way he had glanced at her ahpressivly as he passed her. It was always difficult for her to read his emotions; it was as if his mind was on constant lockdown whenever she was around him, though when he was talking to Julian she could sometimes catch snippets of what got through.

This was how she had found out he was actually quite enjoying teasing Julian. Every time he did, a flickering rush of something close to childish pride or ecstatic pleasure came from him. He wasn't necessarily _cruel_ about it; she got more the feeling that he had never had a friend to tease before.

"Well, the thing is, before you came in, he didn't know you were physic at all. And just before you came, I dropped it on him subtly." He said with barely-contained snickers." And then—and then I _didn't _tell him you were only an empipath! He thought you could read his mind!"

Oswin wasn't sure whether to feel offended or amused. Offended at the "_only_ an empipath" part, or amused because, well- _he_ was amused. She decided-without deciding-that it was funny.

Soooo… she laughed a little.

"You _are_ only an empipath, right?" he added, looking worried and turning a bit red in the face." Cuz um, I don't know what you've seen in here if you aren't…" he knocked on his head with his fist. She looked at him slyly. He face seemed to crash.

"Oh—oh no! Oh! I am so- oh man!" he sputtered, turning even redder. Embarrassment flooded out of him, engulfing everything else. He continued trying to talk, though he failed at this, only managing to sputter out a few incoherent words, and sounds that might have been words.

Oswin giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand as he stumbled over his own tongue and fidgeted with his sleeves in that odd way he did whenever he was unsure what to do. He giggled turned into loud, raucous laughs that she couldn't breath through. She propped herself up with the low window sill as Julian finally realized what she had done.

"Oh! _You_! You cheeky liar!" he gasped as she heaved for breath, unable to stop. She could feel the hiccups coming on at any moment.

"Sorry!" she said between laughs." I couldn't help it! You totally bought it!"

"And you just let me stand here blubbering my mouth off?" he huffed, looking irritated, though she could feel that he wasn't really." I had a whole confession ready! I was going to get on my knees and beg and everything!"

She laughed, if possible, even harder. She could tell he was starting to crack up as well, and soon there they both were, laughing their heads off over something that might not have been that funny to anyone else.

They slumped against the wall beneath the window, catching their breath as they finally began to settle down. Oswin could feel the contentment rolling off of him in waves; not in the unpleasant, akimbo blasts that usually came from him, but in a soothing manner like that of a whitenoise.

They sat there a while, not speaking. Oswin's hiccups threatened to make a roaring appearance, but she forced them down. She didn't feel like having the hiccups right now; her chest was still too tight from all that laughing.

"Hey Oswin?" Julian started, breaking the silence. The happiness started to disolve somewhat, and she gave an internal sigh of displeasure.

"Yeah?" she inquired, trying to keep the tiredness out of her voice.

"Does it hurt?" she turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised." Being phsychic, I mean" he added." Hearing everyone all around you, all the time. All those emotions. Does it ever drive you mad?"

"Sometimes." she said, leaning back against the wall." When I was younger, I didn't know what to do. I had headaches and migraines all the time, and since I was a squib, my parents had no idea what to do. They had no idea if the problem was caused by magic or science, or if it should be stopped by magic or science."

"It's always tricky with problems like that. Some need both sides of reality." he commented.

"Anyway, once I had my first vision, they managed to find a few coping techniques for me. Sometimes I would have visions of something my younger sister had already foreseen, sometimes it would be about things that are totally insignifigant." she explained. It actually felt good to talk about her powers with someone; especially since that someone was asking out of curiosity and not something else.

She was way too used to people being suspiscios of her. Suspicios, fearful, wary, sometimes even greedy.

"So, if you have coping techniques, why do I give you a headache?" Julian asked. She could feel wisps of dread flickering around him. The air around him was thick with aphression.

"The technique I use to block emotions... it only works when there are a lot of people around me. In a crowd, I can just slip their feelings into raindrops. But alone with someone else, I can feel everything, and I can't stop it. It's the one thing I hate most abut being a squib." she told him. Her insides were all clenched up, as if her organs might sqeeze themselves to death.

"Your mind... It's just chaos in there. Sometimes listening to you is like trying to walk through a tornado." She tried not to hold her breath. There was no change in the floe of emotions coming from the man next to her.

"Well, that makes sense." he said loudly, the blast of bitterness she felt from him matching his tone. He stood up abruptly."I give you headaches. Cureable enough." He spun on his feet, marching stiffly down the hall. Some kind of panic seized her with griping claws. She leapt to her feet, following him.

"Julian! Julian, wait!" she called. He ignored her, rounding the corner.

"Julian! Would you stop!?" she caught up to him, grabbing his sleeve. The explosion of sadness and bitter rage, along with all his usual gloomy emotions, was like a punch in the gut as he whirled to face her.

He yelled at an admiral, face contorted with disgust and rage.

He glared down a man with silver hair.

"For what?" he snapped, as she blinked, unsure of what she had seen. "For you to have time to get another headache? Maybe and paralysis-inducing migraine?"

"No, I just-I don't- not like that! I don't think of you like that!" she shouted, trying to drown out the things going on in her head. The images an feeling were running around in her brain like a herd of uncoordinated, frightened sheep. It was beyond just a headache now; it felt like her whole spine was on fire, pounding like drums.

It was defiantly a vision she had just had; she felt like she might be violently sick at any moment.

_I can't _throw up_ in front of Julian!_ The last time she had tossed her lunch on a boyfriend, it had ended almost immediately—_NOT MY BOYFRIEND!_

"Oh, really. Than what do you think? What am I?" he demanded. An unexpected, powerful flare of guilt and fear screamed through his other emotions before disappearing.

"I… I know what I _don't _think" _I don't' think I'm going to throw up. If I keep thinking this, I won't throw up. _"I _don't_ think of you as a pain in the neck. Or head, or whatever. I _don't_ think you need to calm down, and I _don't_ think that you're over reacting to the last three weeks." She told him firmly, stepping closer to him.

"Your sister isn't missing anymore. But that's the hardest part of looking. You find them; you just… don't always get to them as fast as you expected. And until you get there, it just..." she trailed off, trying to fight the hazy dizzyness that gathered at the edge of her vision.

"...Tears you apart..." he finished for her, voice at a low mumble.

"I don't not like you, Julian. It's just... Maybe you could try thinking happy thoughs when we're around each other. Now, I know that sounds really rediculous and cheesy, but-"

She broke off as they kissed. **(ugh, blech. I can't beleive I'm actually writing this mush)**. Her mind went completely blank. She had no idea what to do. She felt like a stunned rabbit, but she didn't quite feel like it was wrong, either. Maybe this was her future; maybe _he_ was her future...

They broke away.

The whole station shook madly, fire bursting from the walls. Except it wasn't Deep Space Nine; it was a dark, pale-bronze and copper-colored corridor with the ugliest carpets she had ever seen. Fiery beams of electrically-ignited metal fell from the walls and ceiling, trying to crush them.

A group of jem'hadar, which recognized from the security footage from Opps, charged at them from the hallway ahead of them.

"This way!" Garak shouted. They followed him around a corner, Dax barely dodgeing a beam of melting metal.

They were cornered at a dead end. The door behind them was locked. The three hallways ahead of them were blocked off by the jem'hadar, advanceing ever closer. Odo yelled angrily at them.

A flash of blue and white. The sound of a snarling animal. What was lost had not been found; what was found was not what had been lost.

A klingon screemed as it was kicked in the gut.

A quaffle thrown by someone strange.

A terrible shadow.

A horrible pain.

A hazy face hovering over hers. Words spoken by her but not.

A secret of so many years. A battle to face many fears.

...A death of someone beloved... a button…red…red as blood…

A darkness not seen for so very long…

Out of the ashes, the broken rise strong…

A million screams to one million bombs...

Falling…falling…falling…you…

Julian's hesitant happiness trickled around him, as if he wasn't sure how much he wanted to feel hopeful for. She stared ahead blankly. The world spun around her, her head felt like it was filled with sheep fluff.

She wasn't even aware of everything swirling and swaying around her. She felt a wave of distress crash though the air as the sweet blackness of unconsciousness overtook her.

Her last clear thought was an odd one, all things considered.

_Not exactly how I pictured our first kiss going..._

**Whew, thank goodness that's over. I was makeing "ew" faces and everything during that kissing scene. Blech. Not something I'm going to enjoy writeing repetivly as this fic rolls alone. BTW, LoL, Garak. And yes, for those of you who Recognize Moonwatcher's coping technique, I did use it. If a mind reader has to use it to keep from going insane, why not an empipath?**

** Also, this may very well be the last update of the year. Merry Christmas everyone!**

** ...**

** Unless I'm lieing, and post a new chapter before Christmas break begins.**

** It might take a while to get the next parts of the story figured out, cuz this guest reviewer gave me the most awesome idea for this fic, and it's been running rampant in my head ever since. Don't bother trying to find the review; it was a guest, and since if I decide to use the idea, her review would be big time spoilers. So I deleted that review.**

**And oh, dear, Oswin's had two visions in one chapter. Oh my. Whatever shall happen to our brave adventurers.**

**Oh, well, I guess I was going to have to write the vision scene eventually; I'm too impatient to just write my story; I wish there was a way to map out plot from our brains directly into microsoft word.**

**Your thoughts on this neurologically invasive business venture?**

** Any tease lines you think Garak should say?**

**C-*WHAT?! _Oswin_ gets a chapter!***

**O-*I have super-important visions.* flips hair*besides; I'm Julian's girlfriend now!***

**J-*You are! /)^0^(\\***

**O-*Yup! ^^***

**C-*:(***

***sighs* I better go cheer Caimo up before he starts going off about the supuriority of supporting characters...*grumbles***

** Read and review!**


	13. Defiant

**OH MY TWVHJNAKLIWYTFEDUIWYL! INSTRUMENTAL CORE'S NEW ALBUM IS OUT! I AM SO FREAKING INSPIRED THAT I WROTE A NERDY FANFICTION! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY IT!**

"She _says_ she's fine, but I'm not buying it!" the distressed doctor paced hypnotically in front of her-_Commander Sisko's_, she reminded herself- desk.

"Exactly what did she say her vision was about?" Major Kira pressed.

"I mean, we were talking about her powers, and then she just collapsed for no reason!" he turned to face her, looking worried. "Do you think the kissing was too much? Maybe I overwhelmed her?"

"I don't think that's it, Julian." Kira told him impatiently. "What did she see?"

"I don't know." he snorted, continuing to pace. "She's keeping it to herself. Keeps saying that not all visions are meant to be shared."

"How long will she need to rest for?" she asked.

"She says that all she needs is some sleep, but I think that a few days of medical leave wouldn't hurt." he said, his pace quickening.

"I don't think that Oswin would appreciate being kept from her duties longer than need be. This has happened to her before; she knows what she needs to do next better than you do." she pointed out. She really wished he would quit worrying so much, and she _really_ wished he would stop pacing; it was starting to annoy her.

"Yeah, but what if she's wrong? What if she has another vision, and no one's around to get help? What if-"

"Look, I get it that you like her, and that you're worried about her; but for pete's sake, Julian, get it together! The last thing a woman wants is for her boyfriend to start being overprotective." she snapped exasperatedly. She was so _done_ with his nervous babbling!

He stopped pacing, blinking at her stupidly. _Alright, _maybe_ I was a little too harsh with that one._ All of this worrying, stressing, and renovations to the station, combined with her temporary new duties, was _really_ starting to affect her temper these days.

"Alright then." Julian said. "But can I at least keep her in the infirmary overnight? Just to be safe?" Major Kira heaved an internal sigh. _Why me?_

"Fine." she stated tartly. "But she's out the moment she's needed."

"Yes. Thank you Major." he said, brightening. He left with a nod, and Kira slumped over the desk with her head in her arms as soon as the doors closed.

_I need a vacation_. She thought. _I hope Commander Sisko is back soon. I really need a vacation..._

Suddenly, she heard the doors open, and didn't lift her head.

"Major Kira!" she groaned internally; it was Julian_ again_.

"What?" she asked miserably. She was surprised to see the over-excited look on his face; it was a look no one had seen on him in a while. "You kiss Oswin again?"

"No! Commander Sisko is back!" _YES!_ She roared in her mind. She leaped out of her seat, jumping away from the desk as if it were a violent, rabid targ.

"Where is he!" she demanded excitedly.

"Just entering the area near bajoran space. he transmitted just now!" he told her. She practically skipped out of the office. _I could be walking on the sky right now!_ she thought happily. This was exactly how she felt.

No more awful, horrific piles of neck-breaking paperwork. No more having to give permission to everyone to do _everything_. No more having to oversee every tiny little micro-operation...

She could sing right now.

And then the alarm went off, and ruined the perfect moment. She ceased her happy little gait, screaming in her mind about how unfair it all was, and dashed over to the main console, where Dax was checking the sensors frantically.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"We have an unidentified ship entering bajoran space, approximately warp speed 3. It's like nothing I've ever seen." Dax reported.

"Which way is it heading?" she asked. _Please don't say bajor!_ What with the threat of the Dominion hanging over them all, the very _last_ thing they needed was another new enemy.

"Strait for us, sir." the trill said. _Drat._

"Battle stations, everyone!" she shouted, pressing the button that sent her voice echoing throughout the station through the intercoms.

"Major, the ship has cloaked!" Dax yelled intensely.

"Romulans!?" _CAN THIS GET ANY WORSE!?_

"They're dropping out of warp." O'Brian announced from another console.

"They're de-cloaking." Dax said. "They're hailing us."

"Major! It's a Starfleet signature!" The Chief called down, sounding shocked.

"On screen." Kira barked. Her jaw dropped as Commander Sisko grinned smugly down at them all from the screen.

"Benjamin!" Dax gasped exasperatedly. _Of _course_. Leave it to Sisko to send the whole station into a state of panic for his own amusement._

"Glad to see you all still know the protocols!" He said cheerily." How do you like my new set of wheels?"

Dax turned back to the console, pressing various buttons. Commander Sisko's face was replaced**(Haha, that rhymes)** by an image of a ship slowly coasting towards the station. It was about the size of a quiditch pitch, and shaped almost the same as well. Unlike most Starfleet ships she had seen, it didn't look like a pancake on a fork; it just looked like a regular pancake.

Or a small beetle.

"Wicked." Julian and O'Brian chorused.

"Say 'hello', to the _Defiant_." Sisko's voice piped from the comm. Everyone in the room gradually began clapping.

Major Kira joined in as the sound rose to a roar, cheers and whistling punctuating the din of the clapping. _Bajor, we have a warship!_ The applause died down as Commander Sisko spoke again.

"Alright, people. We may have a ship in our pockets, but she needs some work done, and we've got a prison to break into." his voice came, conviction ringing through it."Major Kira, you are relieved from temporary leadership,"

_OH MY GOSH, THANK YOU!_ She took a deep breath as Sisko continued, squaring her shoulders and giving herself a small shake, as if to rid herself further of the burden.

"...and Dax, I want you to inform the Captains of the _Odyssey_, the _Destiny_, and the _Enterprise_ that we are green lit for the rescue mission; Operation Phoenix will be a go in T-78 hours, debriefing as soon as the _Enterprise_ gets back from patrol. I will be heading the mission." He continued; even without seeing his face, Major Kira could almost_ literally _feel her C.O. radiating with authority. "Tell each of them to brig their First Officers. All Deep Space Nine Senior Staff will be expected at the conference; make sure they all know it."

"Yes, sir!" Dax recited faithfully, taking note of the commands on her nearby data pad.

"Is there anything else we should do, sir?" Kira asked. The simple fact that she was being _given _orders, and not giving them herself, was invigorating. She wanted to be given more things to do, more tasks to carry out or ensure to be carried out.

She could remember a time, three years ago, when she had despised takeing orders from a human; or anyone, for that matter.

"Yes." he replied after a pause. "Prepare for battle. Anyone who isn't working on the _Defiant_'s systems, I want reinforcing the station's defenses. I want the starships that aren't accompanying us to be split between helping defend the station, and helping defend Bajor. If the Dominion attacks while we're gone, they won't find us unprepared."

"Yes, sir!" just about everyone in Opps chorused, standing at attention.

"Then lets get going!" The Commander's voice declared from the comms before the view screen image of the _Defiant_ blinked out.

Officers swarmed throughout Opps once more, Chief O'Brian barking orders to his engineers, Julian gathering up any medical staff in the room near the turbo lift, Dax and many other officers busy at various consoles, sometimes crossing the room and/or switching places with another officer at a different console.

"_Defiant_, you are cleared to dock at pylon 3." Dax said.

"I'll go tell Odo what's going on." Kira told the trill, who nodded as she worked, tapping on the main console and her data pad at the same time.

She saw the turbo lift getting ready to leave, and dashed up to it before it could close, joining Julian and his small following of underlings. He gave her a toothy grin, and she suppressed a sigh as the lift started going down.

_I swear, if starts up about Oswin again..._

Even so, she felt as if even the doctor's insistent justification of his overprotectiveness of Oswin couldn't ruin her good mood. She had orders, and didn't have to worry about so many little details on the station anymore. Commander Sisko was finally back.

And she had a pretty good feeling that she wasn't the only one who was overjoyed at this development. Julian Bashir looked like how she had felt just earlier;

Like he could walk on the sky.

**Shorter than the last chapter, I know. Nearly exactly half as long, in fact. But hey, we get to see the not-so-boring debriefing next time. It might take a while, cuz this guest reviewer gave the most brilliant idea last time...**

** ~Question of the Day~**

** I told myself that I would never have a QotD at the bottom of my fanfiction chapters...**

** I lied to me.**

** I pretty much have this WHOLE freaking fic mapped out in my head, so I know how epic my characters will be by the end of it. If Lizza had a theme song, what do you think it would be at this point of the story? How about Julian, what would his song sound like? For Lizza, I like the sound of Instrumental Core's _Universe._ It fits both her, and the whole "space Auror" business very well, if I do say so myself. It is a song for an epic butt-kicker. Aurors are butt-kickers.**

** By the way, offers for the fic prompt _Amiss in the Woods_ are still open, if you want a shot at an idea.**

** J-*Yay! We're going to find my sister!***

** Don't get ahead of yourself, Romeo.**

** J-*Whut?***

** *Sighs* the nickname Dax gave you in chapter four.**

** J-*What do you mean, nickname? And why shouldn't I get ahead of myself? What shouldn't I get ahead of myself on?***

** *Sighs again* you know what, I bored with you questions; go snog Oswin again or something.**

** Now, if you excuse me, I have to go listen to I.C.'s new dubchestral album. *Puts on headphones.***

** *Eyes dialate, falls over off chair, drools uncontrollable***

** Tho epicssss...**

** Read and Review!PLEASE! Like, fifty people are keeping track of this fic, but don't review(You know who you are) Even if it's a random nothing of "great fic", I live off of feedback like a vampire off blood. ^^**


	14. The Phoenix

** Hello, folks! Welcome back from Christmas break! And here is your little present! And I've got a few more from where this came from, so stay tuned!**

** I was originally not going to post this chapter; it was just a little something I wrote when I got bored in programming class one day. Then I decided that it was a better insight into Caimo's character, and that I could use it to introduce that Guest reviewer's idea. This means that Caimo finally gets some more screen time and will stop bugging me, and that I don't have to waste time writeing a whole new chapter on the idea.**

** That, and I got to play with Ricker and Picard with this chapter. Sorry if they seem OOC; I only saw 2 TNG episodes (part of the first one, and the season six one where they get turned into children. Picard's temper tantrum was... beautiful), so I really kind of made up their personalities based off of what I saw(Oh, and I also saw the one that introduced the Trill, because I was curios, and they're probably my favorite ST race, perhaps because of their similarities to Time Lords).**

"The _Odyssey_ and the _Destiny _will accompany us, along with the _Enterprise_. We'll split up at the halfway point. The _Rio Grande_ and the_ Mekong _will follow the _Destiny_ and the _Enterprise_. You'll meet the enemy head-on, while the _Odyssey_ attacks from one side with the _Rubicon_ and the _Missouri_. The _Defiant_ will approach from behind, cloaked, and take them from surprise while they're dealing with the frontwards assault." Commander Sisko directed. He drew red lines on the map with his fingers, the view screen projecting the image on the meeting table to give the gathered people a better, 3-dimensional look at their attack plan.

The captains of the ships they had gathered nodded, listening intently. DS9's senior staff wore similar looks of concentration.

"How will we get to the prisoners without killing them in the attack by accident?" Ricker questioned. Beside him, Captain Picard nodded.

"Well, you see now, I will- oh!" Caimo, who was standing nearby, stuttered, breaking off as the many files and papers he carried in his arms fell to the floor. The gathering watched incredulously as he bent down, scrambling to pick everything up.

"Why is he using paper?" Picard whispered to doctor Bashir.

"I honestly have no idea." He answered.

The blond stood straight again, still shuffling the papers and looking as if he wanted to snuggle deep into his russet turtleneck, so that nobody could find him. He cleared his throat, looking nervous, and then stepped forwards, setting the papers carefully on the table. He started handing a file to each of them, and Chief O'Brian let out an inpatient sigh, burying his face in one hand.

"These," Caimo said as he gave the final file to Picard," will tell you everything you need to know."

Ricker opened the file dubiously, examining the parchment as if he wasn't really sure about the floppy substance.

"So, what is the point of this stuff?" he asked. "Is it magic or something?"

"Yup!" Caimo said, looking a bit more confident. "Computers are easy to hack; this paper is enchanted so that I'm the only one who can alter them. Anyone else… well, they're going to need some Essence of Murtlap. A lot of it."

"But what's the point?" Ricker pressed. Picard let out a patient sigh, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

"Ze' point is, zis is ze plan." The Captain of the _Destiny_ pointed out. Captain Keogh nodded, flipping open his file with a flourish.

"Exactly. Who cares if it's on paper-" he broke off as he saw what was on it. He leaned in to get a better look at Caimo and Commander Sisko.

"Uhhh…"he began "What exactly am I looking at here?"

"The designs for a new ship that the Ministry of Magic, U.K. has been working on." Caimo told him. He took a paper out of his file and placed it on the table scanner. A few button presses, and a russet, early 21st century fighter jet appeared.

At least, that's what it looked like at first.

Before they all noticed the warp nacelles on it.

It was a smooth design, the fighter-jet-like appearance and phoenix-colored paint job giving it a "space Ferrari" look about it. There were no windows that anybody could see, other than the wide cockpit at the head of the ship, which featured a rounded, rectangular "windshield" of sorts, furthering the sports car-like appearance.

O'Brian whistled, while it looked like Ricker might actually drool.

"Sleek." he commented, leaning in to get a closer look.

"This," Caimo began, clearing his throat importantly," Is the Phoenix M-II. The first successful hybridization of magic and muggle technology. An entirely new class of warship; the Phoenix-Class."

"The Ministry has been building a warship? What for?" Major Kira asked incredulously. The romulan representative nodded agreeingly, eyes narrowed.

"Well, uh, i-it was an experiment-at first." the sweater-wearing nerd stuttered, his confidence flushed down the drain once more. "Then the borg attacked. Before that point, military uses for the Phoenix-Class ships had never been explored. That's when they decided to restart the program all over again; it wasn't about building _just _a ship anymore. It was about building a hybrid with the firepower of a Galaxy-Class cruiser, and the maneuverability of a runabout, and the speed of a stealth jet(hence the design)."

"How many are there?" Ricker asked, still eyeing the hologram image of the _Phoenix_ with a slightly dreamy look.

"So far? Just the one. It's a prototype, this is her maiden voyage. They're thinking of ditching the paint." Caimo told him. An aggrieved look crossed the face of Picard's First at the mention of excluding the paint job.

"If it iz a prototype, then why iz it on ze mishion?" Captain Tay pointed inquired.

"Because; while the rest of us are attacking, the _Phoenix _will be able to slip in near the compound undetected, and get our people inside to take over from there." Commander Sisko informed. Tay nodded, settling back.

"The other papers in your files will tell you all you need to know about the plan, in detail. The moment you looked at the Phoenix hologram, you became the only people on this station who can read these files." Caimo said.

"Why?" Major Kira asked, looking at both sides of the file folder.

"It's the Fidelius Charm. We wouldn't want the scores of other races finding out about our plan and bugging us to let them in on it." The O.L.I.O. shook his head witheringly." I caught a apalapucian snooping around my quarters earlier, looking for this stuff."

"No, I mean why _paper_?" she reaffirmed. Caimo's cheeks turned red by an infinitely small amount, and he grinned sheepishly at all of them as they looked at him expectantly.

"Because, I, uh, thought that, th-the, uh, that our plan would look, uh, p-pretty cool in retro style…" he stuttered, shoulders hunched embarrassedly.

Keogh shook his head, sitting back with a sigh. Major Kira continued to stare at Caimo, with the addition of her "are you kidding me?" look. Picard rubbed his forehead with one hand, and O'Brian face palmed. Dax bit her lip, sniggering.

"Well, it doesn't hurt anyone, to say the least. Just makes the plan look weird." Julian piped. Caimo gave him a bit of a crushed look.

"Chief, I want you to run the _Defiant_'s systems through a fine-toothed comb. It, too, was a prototype. I don't want it to fall apart because the firepower was too much for the structure to handle." Sisko ordered. The red-head nodded.

"She'll be fit enough to battle a borg mother ship by the time I'm done with her, Commander." he vowed.

"Good. Major, I want you and Odo to plug up any and every hole in station security. I don't want anything happening while we're not here." Odo's head shot up at the mention of his name, and he looked fairly happy to have an important duty to carry out. That, or he was just looking forwards to hindering Quark's business in whatever way he pleased.

"Captains Picard, Tay, and Keogh, prepare your ships for battle. Spaces will be provided for all non-essential personnel. Libbs," Sisko ordered, before addressing the lead Auror for the first time, "I expect you to have your team ready when they're needed."

"They will be." The silver-haired man told him.

"Good. Now, are there any questions?" the black Commander asked. The people looked assembled at the table looked at each other. Ricker raised his hand.

"Yes?" Sisko inquired.

"Permission to kick but when we get there, sir?" Picard sighed, rubbing his forehead again. Sisko raised one eyebrow, but grinned none the less.

"Permission granted, Commander." Sisko said.

"Thank you, sir!" Ricker nodded, grinning toothily. "That will be all, sir."

"Then…" Sisko began slowly, taking a moment to look at everyone who was gathered. His eyes lingered a moment longer on Julian, before he spoke again. "We leave in 73 hours. Be prepared. Say your goodbyes. This is not a training run; this is battle. Fight hard, and good luck."

"Yes, sir!" everyone saluted.

"We won't let you down, Ben." Dax reassured him enthusiastically.

"We'll show 'em what happens when they mess with the Federation!" O'Brian cheered.

"Lets go kick their sorry butts!" Ricker roared, jumping to his feet with his fists in the air.

Picard looked at him witheringly, before shrugging hopelessly. Several others rose in their seats as well, rallying. Sisko raised his hands, signalling for calm. The cries ended, though not before Caimo, who had not partaken, finnaly decided to let loose an energetic scream of vengeance. As the room had gone silent by then, this earned him some looks from the others in the room.

He grinned sheepishly, looking once more, as if he wanted to retreat into his sweater like a turtle would its shell.

"Sorry." he whimpered. They continued stareing.

"Well, maybe he's got some spirit after all!" Ricker exclaimed. Sisko shot him a look. Everyone's attention returned to him.

"You all know what you have to do. Get to it, people!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

**LoL, Caimo. Our heroes are preparing for battle; but which base will they attack? Who shall they find at the other end of the annoying, beeping signal? How will I compensate for my merciless destruction of the canon storyline?**

** Pft, like I'm telling you.**

** ~ Question of the Stupid Day ~**

** I have decided that, between the major parts of this story, I shall integrate little "ficletts", so to speak; three chapter mini-stories that will offer both background to the characters, and tie in to recent events. I have many ideas for several characters, and what will happen in their ficletts. The question is... who do you want to see first? Avon? Lizza? Caimo? Julian? Osiwn? Other? I have ideas for all of them, but no idea where to start. Who do you want to see in the first ficlett? It should come up in about, ten, maybe fifteen chapters or so. What do you want to see happen?**

**I have realized, after reading this fic with the mindset of an outsider... that each chapter sounds horribly cheesy. Perhaps this is because, since DS9 is a show, I feel the need to give the most description and drama as possible. Perhaps it is since I listen to dramatic instrumental music as I write, and, as such, I match my typing to the music, to each moment of the piece, and my readers do not hear this music.**

** After these next few chapters, my writing shall improve, for I shall try to think of each event not as if it were in a show, but a book. Yes, indeed, I shall try.**

** Also, I have noticed that the Doctor's companions didn't start dying until Moffat showed up. Donna's an amnesiac, Rose is in an alternate reality betrothed to 10's clone, Martha and Mickey are married and still alive... then Moffat shows up. Rory dies. And dies again. And then yet again, and AGAIN ONCE MORE, and then him and Amy DIE for good, and the Doctor can't visit them without blowing up reality. Then *SPOILERS* Clara DIES. For _GOOD_. I know Moffat gave her multiple write-outs, but still...**

** *Sighs* Somebody fire him before he kills somebody important. Oh, wait...**

**C- *Wow, that was a long author's not you have there.***

**I know, I know. Which reminds me, before I forget, If anyone is still interested in _Amiss In the Woods_, but they don't want to, or don't have the time to write it themselves, I'm now offering it as a co-op story to anyone who wants to write with me.**

**C-*You really should stop the author's note now, before people get annoyed.***

**O-*Lay off, Caimo; she hasn't had a review in weeks; she's been logging on as a guest an complimenting herself.***

**:OI have not! *looks to the left***

**O-*Sure you haven't.***

**...**

**I'm lonely.**

** PLEASE REVIEW BEFORE I LITERALLY GO INSANE!**


	15. Battle For The Lost

**What's this? Two chapters in one week? I decided to have mercy. To enhance the experience of this chapter, I suggest you all go onto Youtube**, **and turn on either**** _Farewell To Earth_(instrumental piece) or** **the _Battle of Hogwarts_ theme, and read slowly. Personally, I think that the former fits this chapter better. **

** And yay! I finnaly got to write an epic space battle scene! I've been wanting to do this for ages. And forgive me if I gave the ships a bit of an AU update; I saw all the shiny holograms in the 2009 Star Trek movie, and decided that these ships deserved as much of an update.**

** Also, this is a _bit_ of a Caimo-y chapter.**

**C-*YAY!***

9 ships charged through space at warp 3. Not because they wanted a slow approach, but because that was as fast the _Defiant_ could go without falling apart.

Sisko, Picard, Tay, and Keogh all sat in their Captain seats. Libbs flipped various switches on the Phoenix's dashboard. The runabouts checked in one-b-one as they neared the halfway point.

"_Rubicon_, checking in." Dax confirmed. "Preparing to go into siege mode."

"Good. Runabouts, stay beneath the starships. You know how to fly from there." Sisko transmitted his voice across to all the other ships. "Starships, you know how to take these guys. Radio silence from here on out. To all of you... good luck."

"You too, Ben." was the only response, before the_ Rubicon_, too, was silent.

"Engage cloaking." Commander Sisko ordered as the other teams broke formation and veered away to prepare their own attacks.

"Retro-reflection panels engaging. Mist dispersing. Cloak engaged." an ensign declared from her post.

"Engage siege mode." he said, a not of triumph in his voice, as if he was having one of those "I've always wanted to say that" moments.

"Passkey one, confirmed." came another man's voice as Kira placed her hand on the scanner at Sisko's left. Sisko placed his hand on the scanner after her.

"Passkey two, confirmed."

"Bashir; would you like to do the honors?" the Commander asked. The brit came up from behind him.

"It would be my pleasure, sir." He said, putting his hand o the scanner.

"Passkey three, confirmed. Authority confirmed. Siege mode engaging."

Icey blue holographic lines, stats, points, and controls flickered to life in the room, and all round the ship. Everyone in the room pressed the small earwigs they had been given, and the full visors flickered on.

Men and women rushed to the cockpits of the _Defiant_'s turrets, turning their visors on as the siege turrets activated, the targeting system linking with their visors. Similar things were happening on the other ships a well, though on a lesser scale when it came to the runabouts.

"Siege mode engaged. View screen disengaged. Approaching enemy compound. Other ships are 30 second out. The enemy has noticed them." the ensign reported, her voice tense.

"Alright. Power to forwards shields. Lock on the nearest watch tower. Siege turrets lock on to enemy ships. Prepare to disengage cloak, and pave a way for the _Phoenix_." Sisko ordered.

"Locked on, sir. Power ready to go to shields. Cloak on standby."

"Medical staff to posts, we are about to engage the enemy." Julian spoke through his comm badge. Kira and him stood at either side of Commander Sisko as they stood ready to fire.

"Your orders sir?" the ensign asked, not looking up from her controls. There was silence. The only thing, other than the sounds of the ship, that anybody could hear, was the pounding of their own heartbeat.

There was a noise, signaling that the other ships had dropped out of warp.

"Fire forwards fasers."

The _Defiant_ de-cloaked. The fighting had started.

"Direct hit to tower one, sir. There are seven more." The ensign confirmed.

"Go for them." Sisko ordered. The ship gave a sudden heave as large, black ships with purple streaks began firing at them.

"Shields holding. Siege turrets are a go for attack. Formation Delta." Kira, who had taken her place at another console, said, broadcasting to the solders in the turrets.

"Pods Delta, Omega, fire on my command." One of the turret engineers said. The aforementioned pods of turrets locked tow ships in their sights.

"Fire!" the same man commanded. All eight turrets fired at the ships. One went up in an explosion almost immediately, while the other fired off a single shot before breaking in half. The shot broke through the shields, destroying two turrets.

"We've lost two turrets in pod Alpha." Kira relayed the message.

"Shields at 90%." The ensign announced.

"Med staff to pod Alpha bay." Julian ordered from his station in the corner behind Sisko.

"Sir, approaching second target. Firing forward fasers." The ensign said.

"The _Rubicon_ is hailing us, sir. Audio only." Chief O'Brian told them.

"Put them through, Chief." Sisko said, turning off his visors for a moment.

"Commander, we're going to have to back off. Our systems are too damaged. We can't go into warp." Dax's patchy voice came through. There were unpleasant noises in the background. "Mires is unconscious, and Marson's hands are injured."

"Who's closest to you?" he asked.

"The… _Destiny_." She replied, alarm in her voice apparent even with the grainy noises coming from the broadcast.

"Hail the _Destiny_, Chief. Tell them to get them out of there." The scott nodded, contacting the starship." You should be safe soon, Old man. As safe as one can get in the middle of a battle, that is."

"Thanks, Ben." The trill's voice came once more before the transmission blacked out. After a few moments, O'Brian looked up from his console, turning off the broadcaster in his visor.

"That was the_ Destiny_; they've got them, but the _Rubicon_'s been destroyed." he said.

Sisko nodded, looking relieved. He turned his visor back on as more blasts shook the ship.

"Pod Alpha is down one more turret sir." Major Kira reported, voice tight.

"Med team Alpha is a man down. They need emergency beaming to the med bay." Julian called from his post.

"Got it." O'Brian replied, "Med team Alpha, prepare for in-ship beam to med bay."

"Tower three is destroyed sir."

"Incoming transmission from the _Phoenix_, sir." O'Brian announced. Sisko turned his visor off once more, and the Chief patched Libbs through.

"Commander Sisko, we're going in. I'll join you in the fight once we've got our men down there." the silver-haired Auror told them. In the background, the cockpit of the_ Phoenix_ was the exact opposite of the _Defiant_, rustic, and relatively calm; if one didn't count Caimo, that is, who was clearly about to a have a panic attack of some sort.

"I really should stay away from field work after this!" they heard him say before the _Phoenix_ went out. Sisko turned his visor back on again, and the fight continued.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Caimo, get with Alpha Team; we need you in there to help with the prison break!" Libbs yelled over his shoulder.

"Y-yes, sir!" the blond, who in his usual fashion was wearing a greenish-gray turtleneck sweater, though this time accented with a faser-proof vest, nodded nervously. They still had no idea if it would do any good against Dominion weaponry, but it had been the only thing that could possibly make the vulnerable nerd _not_ have an out-right panic attack the moment they entered Dominion space.

Well, a vest and a re-breather mask, in case he got spaced. Though, even if he _did_ get spaced, he probably wouldn't have time to put it on, anyway. He ran- or rather, scrambled- to join the Alpha Team, nearly falling off of the ladder that led down from the cockpit. He tried admiring the style of the _Phoenix_'s interior to try and calm himself somewhat.

The retro-styled controls, the comfy little "living room"-like area just beneath it. A couch, walls lined with book shelves that had yet to be filled. A fireplace, (for yullog or floo), a small hallway running off in the back that led to the dorm rooms, which looked like a hall filled with about fifty doors that had only an inch of space between each, though one would find that each room had an extension charm on it.

One thing that most people didn't know was that he himself had designed every inch of this ship. It was his pride; his life's work. He had dreamed since he was a child of being a wizard when he grew up.

He spent every day imagining what he would do when he got to Hogwarts; he would be in Ravenclaw, he would get top O.W.L.s, and his N.E.W.T.s score would be so impressive, he would get to be a high-ranking Starfleet-Ministry liaison, an expert in the Science of Magic, and the greatest mind the wizarding world had produced since the founders of the Triple W, Fred and George Weasley, who had invented charms that had blown the socks off of the intellectual wizarding community.

But his letter never came. He skipped secondary school all together, an I.Q. test showing that he had an I.Q. of 120 at the age of 8. His eleventh birthday came with no Hogwarts letter, leading to being the worst day of his entire life. He decided to become the leading muggle expert on the wizarding world instead.

So here he was, about to charge into battle 12 years after the greatest disappointment in his life. And he would, many years later, say that it was _not_, in fact, the most terrifying moment of his life.

He nearly collided with the nearest Auror when he got to Alpha Team, which was standing near the entrance to the ship with Omega Team and Beta team. 30 Aurors total, wielding both wand and faser, ready to apparate into the middle of chaos.

"Are you ready?" Alpha Team's leader yelled, this yell being directed at Caimo.

All the ship's architect could do was nod a "yes", though the look on his face said "definably not".

"Then lets get in there! Go, go, go!" the captain shouted. A million _pops_ sounded through the air as the teams apparated, and before Caimo could do anything, he, too, vanished, reappearing in a place that looked like a warzone.

Well, technically speaking, it was a warzone.

It seemed as if the prisoners had, upon hearing the battle that was happening outside the compound, decided to star the fighting inside the compound as well. They had already done a small fraction of the Aurors' jobs.

"Caimo, get to the control panel over there!" Alpha's captain. The pale-faced, sandshoe-wearing blond didn't even nod properly, too terrified to manage anything better than an incoherent shake of the head, and a noise that might have been a word, had he been able to speak properly.

He ran over to the area that the captain had pointed out, where a kinetic barrier kept several prisoners boxed in. However, as he neared it, a scaly, gray something loomed out from the hallway that opened up just between the wall with the barrier, and a wall with an empty barrack in it.

Caimo froze, the creature, which he now recognized from the Opps security recording as a jem'hadar, towering over him menacingly, raising it's bladed weapon, grinning and grimacing wickedly at the same time. The blond tried to move, but seemed to be frozen in place by his own terror. He shut his eyes tight at the Jem'hadar brought his weapon down on him.

Suddenly, another figure barreled out of the darkness of the hallway, slamming into the jem'hadar. Caimo opened his eyes just in time to see a towering black man snap the jem'hadar's neck before it could react to the attack.

"That was for Palamas." he growled in a deep baritone, glaring at the corpse. He turned his head to Caimo, who could barely speak at this point.

"You here to break us out?" he asked. Caimo nodded shakily. The black man's eye gentled somewhat." Come on, the control panel for that barrier is over here."

He led the shaken hacker around the corner, where two women, one with curly black hair, the other looking like her blond twin, were waiting.

"Give me you weapon, before you hurt yourself, sweetie." the blond woman demanded of Caimo, holding out her hand in a somewhat arrogant manner. He was more than happy to comply.

As the blond woman went out from the cover of the hall, Caimo got to work on the panel, and soon more prisoners flooded the area, angry and shouting, falling in with the Aurors, some of which gave a few of the escapees their fasers.

"You heard our signal?" The black man asked, grabbing Caimo's arm. He nodded once more, and for the first time, he spoke.

"D-do you kno-know where a-an Auror i-is? N-named Lizza?" he only just managed to say. The black man's face fell with sorrow, and the woman with black curly hair's eyes darkened.

"They took her after they killed Palamas." she told him. Caimo's face seemed to crash.

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"Tower eight is down! We are free to engage the enemy completely, sir!" the ensign announced, her voice the closest thing to happy or cheerful as it could get in their current situation.

"Pod Beta is down, Commander!" Kira reported, voice strained, as the ship heaved from another blow.

"Shields at 30%." the ensign said.

"Engage completely. All pods, fire at will." Sisko ordered.

"Sir, the _Odyssey_ is in trouble; their engines have taken heavy damage. They're sitting ducks out there." O'Brian relayed.

"Sir, there are only two attack ships left; they're converging on the_ Odyssey_." the ensign told them.

"Commander, the crew of the _Makong_ are on there." The Chief reaffirmed.

"Stop those ships. Tell the others." Sisko ordered. Getting to the _Odyssey_ seemed to take forever as O'Brian told the other starships what was happening.

"Zis is ze _Destiny_ to ze _Defiant_" came Tay's voice." Ze attck ships, zey are not slowzing down. You are ze clozest, zuo must hurry."

"Roger that, _Destiny_." Sisko replied.

"Sir, the ships aren't slowing down, and they aren't charging their weapons." The ensign told them, voice tense and worried. "The _Odyssey_'s shields and weapons systems are down as well."

"Fire at the nearest ship!" the Commander ordered.

"Target destroyed, locking second ship in sights." Kira reported.

"This is _Odyssey_ to _Defiant_, destroy that—" a loud roar tore from the audio of the transmission, as Keogh's flickering form disappeared from the view screen completely. O'Brian practically punched himself in the head trying to turn off his visor as the abrupt rise in volume blasted his ears.

"Second ship…is destroyed, sir…" the ensign announced blankly. "The _Odyssey_ is gone… no life signs detected… no survivors…"

The radio waves were silent. Everyone stared blankly as they registered what had happened. O'Brian rubbed his ringing ears absentmindedly.

"They just went… kamikaze. They could tell they were losing…" Julian exclaimed silently.

A picture fluttered onto the view screen; it was Libbs.

"Commander Sisko," he said, rage apparent in his eyes," You ought to bring Odo down here into the compound; you won't believe what we found."

"Okay. We'll meet your people there." Sisko nodded slowly. Libbs gave a rough nod back and ended his transmission.

"Doctor, would you go tell Odo he's needed in the compound? You can beam down with him." The Commander asked silently. For once, Julian didn't look excited at the prospect of finding his sister; as if the fate of the _Odyssey_ and her crew had cast a shadow over the reunion that couldn't be cast away.

"Yes, sir." He answered quietly.

** Oh, dear. How will Julian react when he discovers that he's too late? Poor guy. It's kind of hard for me to write high-emotion scenes; they make me nervous. Am I being too dramatic; will the readers think this isn't the right reaction; am I having the characters downplay this too much? you know, that kind of thing.**

**~ Dumb Question of the Day ~**

** In a world full of aliens, none of whom have the genetic tendencies to produce those capable of wielding magic, what kind of prejudices would wizards have to deal with? Their skills are, in my head canon, a genetic mutation similar to that of red hair; they can access more of their brains than muggle humans can, and combined with this certain mutation, they have the ability to control a telekinetic frequency, through use of a conductor(I.E., wands). They are, in fact, mutants. With aliens around a whole subclass of humans emerges, claiming to have been in hiding for thousands of years. Considering that humanity has just met life beyond Earth, the blow is softened a little. But still; with this revelation, how would the magic folk have been treated? Which blood status would have been hit hardest, frowned upon the most? Half-bloods, muggleborns, or the purebloods? How would pureblood elitists have reacted? Would there have been another Wizarding War?**

***In deep, evil voice*AS AUTHOR, I HAVE POWER TO CEASE ALL UPDATES SHOULD REVEIWS NOT BE ADMINISTERED. REVEIW, OR FACE MY WRATH.I SHALL WAIT UNTIL THEIR ARE 40 REVEIWS UNTIL I UPDATE. *Please don't fall under the crowd majority assumption that if you don't review, somebody else will. because everybody will assume that, and then there will be no review... and NO updates, because you all ASSUME that somebody else will review if you don't. I always leave a little review at the end chapter of a fic I've just read, even if the house is on fire.***

**REVEIW, AND THERE SHALT BE NO MORE STUPIDLY LONGE AUTHOR'S NOTES.**

***Sorry, but it's been a long break, and I just can't shut up. This is literally the only online media a use. Facebook is useless to me.***


	16. Losing Before Winning

**Perhaps I would get more review if I said I would respond to them at the beginning of each chapter? Look, I know I said no more updates, but I'm really depressed today, a bit of a family friend died, and fresh updates usually tend to yeild a better chance of reviews. PLEASE REVIEW?!**

** Guest: THANK YOU! And it's good to see someone who think's the same way; chapter one (and the early chapters just in general) IS terrible.**

When they beamed down with Commander Sisko, it was to find a line of jem'hadar with their hands on a wall, Aurors and former prisoners aiming at them with wand and faser alike. Among the line of new P.O.W.s was a man that almost looked human; except for his pair of very cardassian-like ears.

He glared at them as they approached Libbs, who had left the Phoenix in control of some nameless co-pilot.

"I'm sorry for what happened to the _Odyssey_, Commander." He told them when they were near enough." But for all these people," he waved a hand at the recently-freed prisoners who weren't aiming fasers at their former captors, most of whom were sitting on the ground, or being tended to by doctors." well, to them, the sacrifice was worth it. I would have rathered to get them back without paying a price; but at least now we know what lengths the Dominion are willing to go through. That should be useful, we should hope."

Julian scanned the crowd, all of them knowing what he was looking for. Sisko nodded at Libbs solomny.

"What did you need me down here for?" Odo asked blatantly. Libbs gave him a narrow-eyed, unreadable look.

"Over here." He motioned, leading the way. Julian kept craning his neck to get a better look at the faces in the crowd as they were led to a small gathering of Aurors, who were lined up outside what appeared to be a room blocked off by a containment field.

"We originally wondered if a boggart had somehow got into the Gamma Quadrant through one of the destroyed ships," Libbs told them as the Aurors, who had their wands pointed at the field, parted to let them through," but then we realized what it really was."

All three of them went slack-jawed at the sight of it. Odo took a hesitant step forwards.

"We lost seven men before we managed to get it in here." Libbs continued, as a wave of pale tan crashed against the field with another eerie screech of rage. A large hoof shape formed, and bashed against the ice-blue field.

"Is it…?" Odo asked, barely audible, staring at the creature that was so similar to him.

"I might be." Libbs confirmed. The Constable took a few more tentative steps forward, and the "creature" paused in its assault on the kinetic barrier that was holding it in. The hooved tentacle seemed to regard him, before shrinking back, as the tan goop seemed to implode in on itself, to form…

…A person.

Or a "sort-of-person", really; this shape-shifter seemed to be just as bad at making faces as Odo was. He regarded the justice-centric constable with what seemed to be mild interest.

"You're on their side." He commented almost lazily.

"Y-yes. I am on their side." Odo, seemingly baffled, answered. "Who's side are you on?"

"The side for order, control, peace." The other shape-shifter replied nonchalantly.

"Peace!" Julian barked angrily. "You run around blowing innocent people up, imprisoning them for no reason, and make war without cause!"

"Bashir!" Sisko snapped repremandedly. Odo ignored them.

"Peace? You call _this_, peace?" he asked, jerking his head in the direction of a dead Auror, approaching his fellow shape-shifter slowly. "These people never did anything to you."

The other shape-shifter chuckled, as if Odo were a child who was having trouble understanding something that was, by all accounts, very simple. He fixed Odo with a hard, burning, glare.

"We are changelings; the solids will always make war against us; they always have!" he explained angrily, casting his glare further out to include the people gathered behind Odo. "Why make peace with a people who don't understand the meaning of the word? They would have discovered us eventually, and _hated _us! _All _of this was a mere preemptive strike."

"True; they are a violent people." Odo exclaimed, looking horrified." But the better of them make up for all of it! They can be kind, and compassionate, and most of them are never cruel by nature. All of them do questionable things; but to make war on someone without probable cause is a worse crime than any I've seen them commit!"

"They are a disorderly plague!" The changeling spat at him. Several people jumped back a ways, including Odo. "Disorganized, chaotic; we will bring order to the Alpha Quadrant! We will bring an end to the chaos! We will have order! We will control!"

"War isn't order, and you have no control over it!" Julian yelled from where Libbs and Sisko were holding him back from rushing at the containment field. "You're causing more chaos than you thought there was!"

"You've felt it, child" the changeling suddenly cooed, ignoring the "solids"." The need to bring order. To be in control."

Odo tensed." I am an officer of the law." He told the changeling." As such, I always desire justice. It is my duty."

The changeling chuckled again, sounding more evil each moment. "No, ha ha, no child; that desire is not for justice, but for _order_! _All_ changelings desire order. Otherwise, you would not enjoy your 'duty' so much." He seemed to giggle manically. "I take it you do enjoy it, am I right, child?"

"My name is Odo!" the constable snapped. The changeling barked a laugh before glaring at him suddenly.

"Don't try to amuse me!" he growled." No changeling has a name! No _proper_ changeling! It is a _lie_, a lie that you were given! Not a _name_!

"It _is_ my name and I'm very much fond of it!" Odo snapped again. "And if the need to control is my true nature, than at least I use it in the name of justice, not desire for power!"

The changeling went silent once more, ceasing his laughing and fixing them all with a thunderous glare.

"You are blinded by your life among the solids. Sending the hundred away, it seems, was a better plan as a thought, than as an action." Her sneered. "Yes, we are the Founders, _Odo_. We _are_ the Dominion. Enjoy your _precious_ name while it lasts. No changeling has ever harmed another changeling; I must abide by that rule. But next time, child, next time… you're solid friends will not be spared."

With that, the changeling seemed to disintegrate. Everyone gasped.

_"Sir!"_ Major Kira's panicked voice came through on Sisko's comm badge. He hit it, making the conversation two-way.

_ "Fifty ships just de-cloaked off our starboard side! What are your orders?" _everyone who had heard the news tensed, eyes wide with fear.

"That must be how he escaped!" one Auror exclaimed. Sisko seemed to have frozen with shock, unresponsive to Kira pressing tone. He opened his mouth to finally speak, when Kira's voice came once more; not panicked, this time, but confused.

_"Sir, they're… they're retreating. They're running away!"_ she exclaimed.

"Then prepare to beam up the prisoners. We'll send the missing up first. Tell the Enterprise to be ready for P.O—" he was interrupted by a panicked yelling.

"Sir, sir! Head Libbs, sir!" a young, limping Auror rushed up to them." The jem'hadar and the vorta; they're gone, sir! They just disappeared!"

"So did our shape-shifter." Libbs seemed to growl to him. "They must have been beamed out as well."

_"Commander?"_ Kira asked, as Libbs angrily threw down his PD-which he had been useing to talk to his co-pilot- so hard, it shattered into about a million peices. People around them flinched, and any nearby Aurors backed away slowly.

"Tell the _Enterprise_ to prepare for transport of the wounded. Tell the _Destiny_ that they'll be receiving the dead afterwards." He amended." We'll be taking anyone else."

Julian, while they were doing this, turned his attention away from the scene of the shocking disapearance. He stood on his toes, trying to get a better look at where the dead Aurors were being placed.

He, knowing his sister, was well within reason to assume that she would take on a super-powered "bogart". Her "noble recklessness" had been known to get her into trouble in the past. He couldn't see any bodies that looked like her from here; and through the clamor of voices, he couldn't pick her voice out, either.

"Hey!" came a new voice." Hey, Julian! Over here!"

It was Oswin, weaving her way through the confused crowd. She looked as hopeful as he did.

"Oswin? What are you doing here!" he exclaimed dashing over to her, ignoring the upheaval that the changeling's disappearing act had caused.

"Well, I'm here to help you find Lizza, aren't I?" she huffed playfully, any attitude about having been kept prisoner in the infirmary seeming to have evaporated.

"Oswin, you were _not_ cleared for duty!" he held her by the shoulders looking into her eyes as if checking for a concussion. Said eyes rolled impatiently.

"Like I was going to let _you_, Mr. Over-protective, charge off into battle without me to keep you from doing something stupid!" she sighed dramatically.

"I would never do something stupid!"

***Yesterday***

"You _seriously_ thought it was a good idea to stick your hand in the replicator?" Oswin scolded as Julian's skin was restored by the dermal regenerator.

"Well, I thought it was broken!" he reasoned, wincing as the nurse gripped his arm tighter as she worked.

"Just because your food doesn't come right away that doesn't mean the replicator is broken! Those things stall all the time!" she gasped. He raised his good hand in surrender.

"Fine, fine; I did something stupid. I admit to the crime of total idiocy." he said solomnly.

***Now***

Oswin looked at him incrediously. He blushed as he seemed to remember yesterday's incident.

"Have you seen any sign of her yet?" Oswin asked. Julian shook his head as the officers and Aurors behind him still argued.

"Not yet. You?" he inquire hopefully.

"Nothing. I think I saw Caimo earlier; he might have seen something. He was with the advance teams." she told him. The doctor nodded, and glanced back at the commotion before letting Oswin lead him away towards the far end of the cavernous room, where several people were being tended to for various wounds.

Julian seemed to be fighting the urge to pitch in and help with the wounded as they passed by people with varying amounts of bodily harm done to their person, from freed prisoners with bruises and cuts, to an Auror who had a deep gash in his stomach.

Finally, they reached a back corner, where Caimo was sitting on a ledge with a blond, middle-aged prisoner binding his leg, which was bleeding from a substancially large cut near his knee. It appeared as if he had already been pummped full of morphine, or some other kind of pain killer, as he was stareing at his hands with deep fasination.

"Hey, there guys!" he greeted cheerily as they approached, his voice oddly slow." Wonderful weather we're haveing, isn't it?"

Julian looked up at the cold, metal ceiling.

"Yup. Sure is, Caimo." he commented, looking back at the blond.

"Caimo, we were wondering if you saw Lizza during the attack? Was she in any of the cells you deactivated?" Oswin asked him gently. The middle-aged man, who was wearing a tattered Starfleet Command uniform, looked up at her with shock at the mention of Lizza's name.

"Ensign Bashir?" he asked, standing slowly. Julian stepped forwards eagerly, excitement plastered all over his face.

"You know where she is? She's my sister, is she here?" he asked eagerly. The blond opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off from a hearty laugh. A large black man, followed by a shrimpy red-head and a woman with curly blond hair, was approaching from the hallway behind Caimo. Upon seeing them, the black man let out a grin.

"You friends of this guy?" he asked, plopping down next to Caimo. Oswin and Julian looked at each other before nodding, confused.

"Well, I'll tell you," he slapped Caimo on the back, and the O.L.I.O. didn't seem to notice, or just didn't care," this guy's got steel! I ain't never seen a man that small, tackle a jem'hadar, and get out on top like that. Only a leg wound, to boot!"

"This is Thomas Cortez, and Percivel Riner. This unique beauty is Professor River Song." the blond Command officer introduced.

"Friends call me Jam." Tom said, shakeing Julian and Oswin's hands. He gave the psychic a small, gentalmanly kiss on the hand, earning him a slight warning look from Julian.

"Perry. Nothing else." Riner told them similarly, nodding at them rather than shaking hands. He turned his head to River Song." And it's more like Professor Butt-Kicker. How'd you learn to do those things anyway?"

"I'm an archeologist." Song stated, seeming to ignore Perry. She cast the Command officer a sly look." And careful, Vincent; I'm a married woman."

"Vincent" looked at all of them witheringly. Song's face fell as she caught sight of Oswin and Julian. There was an unreadable expression on her face as her eyes lingered on Oswin for a split second, and the empipath flinched by an infinant amount.

"Are we hopping on the 'bad news' train? I've been stuck with you for weeks," she scolded as Vincent opened his mouth to protest," I know that look by now."

"Wait a minute..." Julian's eyes lit up with recognission." Vincent! Vincent Vice, Captain of the _U.S.S. Centurion_. You were Lizza's commanding officer!"

"Yes, past tense. Only seven of us made it out of there alive; Lizza was one of them." Vice admitted, looking tired. Julian's face paled at the word "was". Jam cut swiftly cut in, trying to reassure him.

"She's still alive, not dead. They moved her to a different compound, the day we were going to escape." He said quickly. This did less to ease the doctor's panic. His breath was comeing in quick, near sobs. Oswin pressed against him, grabbing his hand.

"Palamas challenged the jem'hadar that came to take the ensign away; the vorta had her killed." Perry continue, rage dripping from each word as he glared at the nearest jem'hadar corpse." Needless to say, Bashir faught like a lion before they were able to knock her out. She took out at least three of them with her bare hands, maybe even killed one of them. Her and Palamas were the only ones who could make our escape plan possible."

Julian's legs shook, and Oswin slowly led him to the ledge that Caimo was sitting on, one arm wraped around his shoulders. He sank down onto the ledge, breaking down. Caimo suddenly slung his arms around a suprised Jam.

"I love you, Puff McStuffins!" he wailed. Perry rolled his eyes as Jam pried the hallucinateing blond off of him.

"She's alive; we know that much." Professor Song conforted, seating herself next to the distraught doctor." And I have a feeling that she'll be able to escape just like we did."

"Nobody's that sure." Julian's voiced shook. He was full on hysterical now, his resistance against the tears failing completely.

"Song is." Vice told him, crossing his arms and nodding at the blond." I've never met anyone who's right about everything, but when River says it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Almost a mystery, but a good almost mystery."

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Back at the gathering near the holding cell the changeling had escaped from, an ever-so-slightly angry bajoran major tried to put her ever-so-slight anger aside in order to comfort a not-so-slightly depressed and dissapointed shape-shifting Constable.

"Who needs jerks like that when you've got a station full of Quark, heh?" she tried to joke. Odo gave her a look.

"That's not exactly comforting, Major." he stated witheringly, looking back at the floor in front of him, which seemed to have grown suddenly interesting.

They both sat next to each other, legs criss-crossed, in front of the holding cell, now empty formarly containing the biggest source of dissapointmant in Odo's life.

"It could be worse." Kira tried. He looked at her again. She mustered a grin as she said, "They could have been a race of total, blithering idiots. Imagine _that_ being the image people get whenever they see you."

Odo smirked, looking back at the ground, Kira looking pleased that she had been able to pry a smile out of him.

"Major Kira!" Siko's voice barked, she stood bolt upright, scrabbling to her feet to face him. Her C.O. looked unhappy at lest, and solomn at most. She seemed to tell imedaitly that there was bad news coming. A middle-aged blond man, in a considerably scuffed up Starfleet Command uniform, stood next to him.

"Yes, sir?" she asked. Next to her, Odo slowly got to his feet as well.

"We have bad news." Sisko told them, voice heavy." This wasn't the only compound they were keeping officers at; Ensign Bashir was among those who were transferred two months ago to a different prison. We were too late."

The blond man bowed his head, looking at his shoes. Kira and Odo looked at each other and, seeming to be thinking the same, hurried through the crowd, looking for the man that this news would effect the most. They noticed him near the back of the large room, sitting with a small group of people, some of them recognizable, others being strangers.

He was sitting with his face burried in his hands, and even at a distace, they could see that he was crying. Oswin, who was next to him, noticed them, looking up from her boyfriend for several moments, the look on her face confirming what Sisko had said.

They were, in fact, too late.

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Julian and Oswin stood watching the stars that they were separated from by only a plate of inch-thick glass. They had been standing here since almost the very moment they had returned to Deep Space Nine, nearly six hours ago.

Niether of them had spoken, even as many freinds and aquaitances had offered reassurances to the distraught doctor. Perhaps none of their words really mattered. Or maybe Oswin's presence was really all he needed.

"This battle..." Oswin finally spoke, voice soft, as they gazed off into the distance."It's changed everything."

Julian looked at her, seeming to have to tear his eyes away from the veiw.

"It's not just a possibility anymore. We're at war. Real, actual, war. Not just the Federation, the entire quadrant. It's not one territory against another, like it usually is. It's one corner of the galaxy against the other now. It's bigger than anything we've ever had to face."

"Yes. We're at war." Julian told her, takeing her hand in his."And we'll win it. For everyone who can't, for everyone that needs us to win."

"I hope you're right." she said, leaning against him.

"Me too." he agreed, looking back out at the stars. A sound rose into the air, like a woman singing, but unlike any language any of them had ever heard before.

It sounded close but far away, and Oswin let out a yawn as the volume seemed to rise.

"Sounds like some sort of lullaby." she muttered. Julian nodded in agreement, relaxing for the first time that day; for the first time in weeks, actually.

Suddenly, just a quickly as it had started, the singing stopped. Both of them gave a start as the air went silent, looking around. Julian's Comm badge gave a beep.

"_Doctor, you have to get down here; Professor Song, she just disapeared_!" came Vice's shocked voice.

"What do you mean? And shouldn't you be resting?" Julian asked, eyes wide.

"_I heard the singing, I saw River near the entrance to the infirmary, then she just disapeared! As in gone into thin air, didn't move a muscle_!" Vice reitorated. Julian and Oswin looked at each other, faces both asking the same question; how?

"Thank you, Vice." He told the former captain."Go get some sleep. I'll be sure to tell Sisko."

"_Goodnight, Doctor_." came the voice once more, before the comm badge gave another beep.

"How can someone do that? Just disapear into thin air like that? Do you think maybe she was a ghost the whole time?" Owsin asked, looking worried.

"A ghost can't get captured by the Dominion." Julian shook his head, eyes steely." She could probably do that the whole time. Instead, she just let Lizza get taken away when she could have got her out of there in the blink of an eye."

"We don't know that-" Oswin started.

"If the shoe fits, Oswin." he interupted. She gave him a hopeless look, as he kicked the wall in frustration.

"You know, you should get some sleep, too." Oswin said slowly as he glared back out the window. "I'll see you tomarrow when the _Destiny_ leaves."

Julian continued to glare as she left. Eventually, he seemed to realize that he was alone, and made his way back to his quarters, collapsing on his bed and stareing up at the ceiling.

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He must have fallen asleep at some point, because there was no way a place like this could exist in real life.

He stood on a mirror-like floor, open comepletly to the stars. His first thought was that he should be dead, before he remembered that it was a dream. He jumped as an explosion burst through the night, and he rushed to the edge of the platform to see several starships chargeing a large comet, which had a midevil-looking castle on it.

He saw runabouts(which actually apeared to be daisys of some sort) mixed in with the starships, fireing on the large black saucer dishes that came out of the castle in droves.

_It's the battle! I'm watching it from the outside..._ he realized as the _Phoenix_(Which had turned into an _actual_ phoenix) soared over his head to join the fight.

"Not exactly what I wanted to dream about tonight..." he muttered. He had had enough of the fighting for one day; did it have to haunt him in his sleep as well?

"Not all dreams are really dreams." he whirled around at the sound of her voice, his heart pounding as he saw her; not at all like the dream girl he had seen so many times, dead or haunting him.

He uniform was in shambles, her hair long and dirty, her face gaunt with whatever hardships she had been through. There was a bloodstain on the lower sleeve of one arm, and a strip of black fabric was wrapped tighly around her wrist. Her dirty, oily hair was tied back in a rough braid.

But her eyes were just the same, as bright and green as ever. He had forgotten how bright they were, being hounded by dream versions of her all the time. None of them had had the right colored eyes.

"Hello, brother." she said. He felt as if the inside of him might break. For a few seconds, the image of a dark room flickered behind her before disapearing.

"Lizza..." he managed to choke out.

"Hug?" she offered, opening her arms. He rushed towards her, wrapping his arms tight around his sister. He could feel the tears coming yet again, and this time he didn't even bother holding them back.

"I have missed you... so much..." he said shakily.

"Feeling's mutual." Lizza's voice wobbled. She pulled away from him, holding his hands. Her eyes were steely as she gazed at him, burning with determination.

"Look," she said," I don't have much time. They've found out that I'm a witch, we have to escape within the next ten minuts at the very least."

"We?" he asked, feeling a little dizzy. Could one get dizzy from shock in a dream? I _probably can._

"There's this vorta, Avon. He wants to defect. We were hopeing to wait until he was high enough in the Dominion, so that we could find out where the wormhole is, but then one of the founders saw wizards in action...You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?" she explained, eyeing him crossly.

"I'm-well-yes and no. I mean, I was there, but I was on a ship; I didn't fight. We thought you were the one sending the signal." he added as she raised an eyebrow.

"A signal? Was it in morse code?" she demanded, face taught with worry.

"Y-yes, yes it was." he answered double-taking. _How did she know?_

"A man in that prison, his name's Tom. He said that if our original plan didn't work, he might be able to make a distress signal in morse code, by makeing a signal that was 'unbiased', or something like that." she told him."Did you find him? He's a big, black guy, sort of bald, kind of looks like Nick Fury?"

"Oh, him! Yes, we, we have him. He's fine." he stammered, though unable to keep a smile from plastering itself onto his face at the referance to Nick Fury. Who would have thought, she would be able to even think about a movie character while she was going through what she was?

"What's that look for?" she asked, looking confused.

"I guess it's because you're so very british, Lizza. Only you could reference Marvel at a time like this." he replied, chokeing up as she smiled back at him.

"Well, Avon, he's," she told him, wiping tears off her own face,"he's been eavesdropping on people, and keeps makeing all these random references that he picks up, and then I have to explain them to him."

The room flickered behind her once more, a dull roar accomanying it, along with what sounded like a voice. Lizza looked down, jaw clentched.

"We're about to escape." she said, looking up." I thought this would be the best time if any to use the stone. Because if we fail-"

"No!" He took her head in his hands"You will not fail. And you will certainly not die. You will escape, you'll find the wormhole, and you'll come home."

"How do you know?" she asked, voice breaking.

"Because you spent half your childhood studying to become a butt-kicking machine, and someone like that doesn't get taken out by a bunch of Dominion lackies." he told her. The two siblings pulled together once more in a hug.

It was the end of the world; the final goodbye. A whole year of wondering and grieving and torture, coming to a final, tear-filled breaking point, amidst a dream of war and loss, as recovery began on one side of reality, and battle began on the other.

It was the end of everything.

Julian gave a start as air filled the space where his sister had stood. He collapsed to his knees, sobbing.

_Why does this always happen? Whenever I'm so close to finding her?_

_Why do I always lose before I can win?_

** Poor Odo and Julian have had a really rough day. Next time, on Siblings, Lizza's gonna be getting down-an-dirty; so sty tuned! And just so you don't get confused, the next chapter takes place SEVERAL WEEKS before the events of this chapter. So don't go blaming me if you get confused; all you had to do was read this very simple author's note, and you would have been fine.**

**L-*YES!(fist pump) I finally get another chapter! I thought you maybe didn't love me any more!***

** Awww. Don't worry, Lizza; I could never forget any of my OCs!**

**C-*Who's Puff Mcstuffins, anyway?***

** Well, in my own head, he's your stuffed dinosaur.**

**C-*...I'm scared of dinosaurs...***

**L-*(facepalms)Of course you are.***

** READ AND REVIEW! REVIEW SHALL BE RESPONDED TO!**


	17. Avon

**I gots a Haircut! ^^ And I've re-written chapter one, for those of you who have noticed the increase of word count but no new chapter. The new chappy one is about 5000 words longer! Chappy two is up next for re-writing! Meanwhile, I have a little something here to satiate those who actually read this thing... Oh, and updates will be coming in a lot slower now; I have 30= chapter written, but many of them need polishing and maybe a few complete overhauls for some of them. That, and I'm re-writing the earlier chapters, and second semester is going to take some getting used too. Plus, I'm starting to think about how I might prepare myself for Marine Corps training.**

** That'll be fun.**

**Without further ado, here is chapter-****Oh, snap. **

**Seventeen doesn't ryme with "ado". Never mind.**

Lizza still wasn't sure if she could even trust this "Avon" character. Even if he was telling the truth, she still didn't believe him. Why?

Because nobody was that jumpy when they were talking to someone who they could trust. Every time she saw him, he was wiggling and shuffling like a sack full of rabbits that were all on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He would glance at her if she was in the same room as him, and then began what appeared to be a series of nervous ticks.

So either he really needed a Calming Draught, or he was playing her. Perhaps it was to figure out what her wand was for? Or maybe, they wanted to know what her friends had been planning for their escape attempt? Because the timing of her transfer had been too convenient for comfort; someone had known that they were going to escape, and they had known that Palamas and Lizza were going to play big parts in that escape.

And how had she divined this information? Because; Palamas had gotten up that vorta's face plenty of times before, and she had only ever been given a warning punch to gut, before the day she was stabbed.

Lizza felt her gut twist with grief at the thought of her friend. It had been two weeks since her death, and so far, the only other person she had dared to make conversation with was Avon; which was ironic considering how little she trusted him.

_ Perhaps this is what it feels like to Julian whenever he talks to his weird cardassian friend_. She mused, as Avon stuttered on nervously about the looks he had been getting from the jem'hadar recently. The tailor had struck her as an odd, shady character, although he had seemed harmless enough while watching hers and Julian's chess game. Her own game with him had proved he was a thinker, though; a dangerously good one, at that. She nodded absent-mindedly as Avon spoke. She was actually paying very little attention to what he was saying; she was still trying to gauge whether or not he was telling the truth.

"…might suspect something." He glanced around nervously at the sleeping prisoners, as if worried that every shadow and corner housed a jem'hadar, ready to attack him. "They, they just won't leave me alone now a days."

"Then why are you alone right now?" she queried slyly, eyes narrowed in what she hoped looked like a playful manner. Avon's eyes grew wide, as if he had suddenly realized his mistake. And…. Then he began to hyperventilate.

"You're right!" he gasped, looking horrified. His attempts to make his voice quieter seemed to be failing; if anything, he was in more danger of waking a prisoner, than of being caught by the jem'hadar ." They could be watching right now! Tailing me!" he looked at her before running off." We never spoke! Never! I-I'll try to talk again tomorrow, if I can!" he insisted.

She watched with narrow eyes as he left the barracks, looking from side to side as if in paranoia. _Now is my chance to prove if he's faking it_. If she fallowed him without his knowing, he would likely cease his nervous act as soon as he was on his own; there was no point in keeping up a ruse if the person you were playing wasn't around to see it.

Slowly and silently, she lifted the grainy sheets and slipped out of the bed. She took out her wand and waved the tip of it around her head.

"_Talparus_." she whispered softly. A cold feeling trickled down her body from her head, and she could almost feel her wand quiver with satisfaction, as if it were overjoyed at being used once more after nearly 4 weeks of dissuse. The satisfaction of casting magic was like an infectious disease. A silent-step charm wouldn't hurt, either. she decided.

"_Stepe quietus_." she whispered, pointing her wand at where her feet should have been. She lifted one leg and stomped down as hard as she could. Her foot hit the ground painfully, but no noise came. She smirked in satisfaction. Now, for the truth. She thought as she exited the barracks.

She froze, stiff with fear, as she stepped over the threshold; on either side of the doorway, there was a jem'hadar. And not just any jem'hadar; Avon's biggest, most brutish lieutenants. She held her breath. The disillusionment charm wouldn't do her much good with them on guard; the jem'hadar where practically chameleons themselves.

She took another step carefully, placing her foot down gently. One of the jem'hadar gave a start, as if waking up. Lizza froze again. They would see her no problem, and she didn't like her chances against them, even with her magic; they were bigger than her, bigger then any jem'hadar she had ever seen.

With this thought, an idea smacked her in the face, a clever, wicked, dirty and unpleasant idea. She looked at the ground; it was disgusting, covered with various "things" that she didn't want to guess about. She bit her lip, wincing, as she lowered herself to the floor until she was on her knees. She slowly leaned forwards, he "stuff" feeling both grainy and mushy beneath her fingers._ Ugh, Merlin's beard, I swear I'm never getting captured again!_

She slowly put her hand forwards, and placed it farther along the ground, careful not to disturb the "stuff". She looked up at the jem'hadar, neither of which yielding a reaction to her movement. She proceeded slowly, every movement making her wince.

Eventually, she rounded the corner, and made a risk to stand up. She caught her sigh of relief before it could escape her; she was far from safe, even if she wasn't outside the jem'hadar's' line of vision, they could probably still hear her quit well.

She made her way down the hall, counting her lucky stars that she had gotten out of that one alive. If the Dominion ever found out about the wizarding world... she shuttered to think about what she might have to do in order to keep that from happening.

After all, she was an Auror first, and homesick youngest child second. If these jem'hadar found out about her abilities, she would have to find a way to kill every Dominion personnel in the encampment, and that meant taking the prisoners, and herself, out with them.

She had imagined this scenario over a million times since being captured. And to be completely honest, it terrified her.

She came around another corner, and stopped as she heard voices float through the air, too muffled for her to make out a conversation. She walked around the area quietly, trying to figure out where the voices were coming from; whoever it was, they sounded angry.

She jumped at the sound of a door opening, and rushed to a corner of the wide hallway, crouching down.

"..yourself... watching you...it..." a voice came, sounding from somewhere over the flight of stairs tucked in one corner of the hall. There was the sound of a door slamming, and thick boots thumping on the ground. She watched as a large jem'hadar descended from the stairs, a scar rippling across one side of his face menacingly.

She held her breath as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs, examining his surroundings with narrowed eyes. His eyes grazed over the corner where she was crouched. She shut her eyes tight, and mentally screamed every swear word she knew of.

She opened one eye just a crack as she heard him start to move again. She slowly released her breath as he moved past her hiding spot, chills running up her spine as he nearly stepped right about where her foot was supposed to be.

Waiting until his footsteps faded, she slowly stood up and crept over to the stairs. Who had the jem'hadar been talking to?

Tip-toeing up the steps, she looked around the new floor before climbing onto it completely. It was a wide hallway, an exact copy of the one she had just been in, with the addition of a few doors lining the walls. There were no other hallways branching off of this one that she could see.

A small bang made her jump, and she noticed one of the doors move. It slowly opened again, as if it's hinges were broken, and whomever was on the other side seemed to give it another forceful shove.

It opened again, and a distressed sort of whine came from whoever was in the room. The door closed and opened once more before the owner seemed to give up, leaving the gray slab to slowly open.

Creeping forwards, she crouched by the door and peered through the opening. The mentally cussed with surprise as she recognized Avon's flaming red hair. _This must be his room or something._

The vorta was pacing back and forth in his room, running his hands through his hair. His breaths came in quick gasps, dog-like whines and whimpers came from his throat, and looked like he was about to cry.

_Merlin's beard. I don't think I've ever seen someone this stressed out before._ He looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown, or a panic attack or something. Suddenly, he rushed to one side of the room, and she made a face as the sounds of someone barfing ripped through the air.

_Ugh, gross! Maybe he really is telling the truth..._ she thought as she pieced things together. If Avon really was as nervous and jumpy as he acted, then the very sight of that jem'hadar would have made him jump out of his skin. Then there had been those jem'hadar out in front of her barracks.

Her heart dropped in her gut like a stone in water. _They really _were _watching him! _She squeezed her eyes shut tight, trying to remember the few words she had made out from her accidental eavesdropping.

_None of it tell me anything! He could be breaking down because of the pressure of spying on me! Even if his nerves aren't fake, that doesn't mean his motives aren't!_ If only she had a phoenix with her! There was no surer way to tell if someone was rotten or kind.

Something in her brain clicked. There was an old charm she could use, one which she had failed to do properly at every turn while in school. But if it worked, she would know.

She twitched her wrist, and felt her wand slide down from it's holster, which she always kept up above her elbow. She pointed it through the crack in the door, and swirled it in a circle, crossing her fingers and hoping that it would work. She tried not to think of all the times this spell had blown up in her face.

Literally.

"_Venitabo Ignavis_." she whispered, and she held her breath. A gold-red light seeped from her wand like a patronus, and the shaped of a bird slowly formed. It stood in mid-air, before shaking out it's feathers and spreading it's wings, taking flight. She released her breath as it didn't explode, clapping a hand over her mouth when she realized how loud that was.

_Yes! I can't believe I actually did it!_ She heard Avon let out a surprised yelp. Sure, it was a bit more red than it should have been, but still! The wispy phoenix let out a musical cry, and she felt like all of her negativity was being blown away. She rolled her shoulders, reveling in the temporary effects of the spell.

For the first time in a year, she could picture England in her mind's eye perfectly. The crisp, refreshing scent of rain, the way beams of sunlight would break through the clouds and dance on the ground. Her old bedroom, with her posters of old TV idols, and her antique game consoles lined up on a neat little rack. Heck, for a blink of a moment, she even though she could smell the Thames!

_I wonder what mum and dad did with all my stuff?_ she wondered for the first time. The old console would probably have been bought by her best friend, Luke; he was the one who got them for her, after all. He had _literally_ gone to the ends of the Quadrant to find a real NES for her sixteenth birthday. With both his and her love of antique video games, it was certainly a blessing that his parents were the second richest people in the Federation.

She let out a small laugh as she remembered how they had met, the both of them drooling over an old, beat up X-Box One in a run-down pawn shop. It was probably collecting dust as well.

The phoenix let out another cry. Warmth seemed to trickled through her.

And then she remembered the purpose of the spell. She pushed the door open slightly, and stuck her head in to get a better view of Avon. Surprisingly, the vorta looked as calm and pleased as she felt. He reached out as the phoenix flew around him again, brushing the golden-red whips as it passed.

He twisted around to watch it fly around the room once more, a grin plastering itself on his face._ I think that's the first time I've actually seen him smile._ she realized. He actually had quite a nice smile.

The phoenix flew at Avon again, then dispersed with a final cry. Lizza shivered, the air feeling colder than usual now that the spell was over. Avon looked like he might cry again, though he didn't seem as panicked as before.

_I guess he really is my ally._ she decided. Slowly, and slipped through the door. Avon jumped as it creaked, whirling around and looking for someone that wasn't there. She closed the door, whispering the _Muffliato_ charm to deafen whoever might be listening.

The vorta was stiff with terror, watching the door with frightened eyes. _If I were a jem'hadar, he would have been killed by now._ He had dropped his guard, with his obvious display of panic. It was a dead giveaway that he was a hen in a wolf house. Or, in this case, a rooster.

"It's me." she said quietly. His eyes widened, and he stood straighter.

"Lizza?" he whispered." Where are you? Why can't I see you?"

"I'm going to show you a secret, Avon." she told him." keep watching the door."

"_Revelosa_." she said, pointing her wand at her head. A cold, trickling sensation went down her body once more, and Avon's eyes looked like they might pop out of his head.

"I've decided that I trust you." she told him. He looked like he might faint.

"How did you...do that..." he asked breathlessly. His legs shook, and he fell back in a heap on the floor.

Lizza sighed. _Figures that the one person I can trust is prone to nervous breakdowns._

The irony of that thought was almost laughable. Not ten minutes ago, she was certain he was an enemy, putting on an act. Now, her only ally was suspected of treason, and he had the nerves of an under-confident nerd in a locker room full of rugby jocks.

She went over to the unconscious vorta. _Now, the work begins._

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" You still haven't old me how you did that... thing earlier." he said, face still pale, from where he sat. The couch was the ugliest piece of furniture Lizza had ever seen, no matter how soft it looked. _When I get back to England, I'm going to go Martha Stuart on my parent's living room._

"It's complicated." She told him, grinning a tiny bit. She sat cross-legged on the couch across from him, and his arms were wrapped around the first pillow he had found, as if it were a life line." And I had a bad tendency to fall asleep in Science of Magic class."

"Science of Magic? Did you just say magic?" he shook his head in disbelief. " There's no such thing as magic; it's just a saying."

"Then how else would I have _magically_ appeared in your room after summoning a bright red smoke-bird?" Lizza countered. Avon paled a bit more.

"Look, if you're going to barf again, try to aim for that bin over there." She nodded towards the bin that he had, she assumed, puked in beforehand. This sentence just had the effect of making him look even sicker.

"I think my stomach is too empty to puke right now." he said shakily. Lizza sighed. _I scared the skin off this guy._ She was going to have to be a little bit gentler with him than what she was normally used to being with other people. All the captivity had made her bitter, but now she would have to try to fight through that, for Avon, so that she could escape.

_So that_ we_ can escape._

She took a deep breath, leaning forwards with her elbows propped up on her knees. This was going to be a long explanation.

"Where I come from," she began," the race I'm from, the humans. Sometimes, a human is born with special abilities. And that human can channel those abilities into what we call magic."

Avon didn't say anything, but looked at her, seemingly rapt with attention. _Alright, then, good so far._ she thought. She took out her wand.

"This," she said, waving it a little," is what we use to control those abilities. And people like me are called witches and wizards. Everything you just saw was my doing, and that's not all that I'm capable of. If you let me, I can use my magic to help us escape."

She watched Avon tensely. He was still deathly pale, and he was looking at her as if he didn't know what to think. _Please don't freak out again, please don't freak out again, please don't freak out again..._ she silently willed him. When he finally spoke, his voice was slow, and hesitant.

"What... what else can you do?" he asked quietly." Other than the stuff you just did?"

Lizza blinked, and let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. The was a faint spark of curiosity in the vorta's hazel eyes, like on the day she had arrived at this place. Perhaps if she showed him something cool, or beautiful, he would warm up to the idea of her being a witch. _And I know just the thing to show him._

"You want to see more, then?" she asked, as not so much of a question than a statement, jumping to her feet. "Stick with me and I'll show you it all!"

She whipped her wand forwards.

"_Expecto patronum_!" she shouted. She though of her brother, her parents, her friends. She thought of all the people she missed so much that it made her heart ache. She though of what it would be like to finally go home, the looks on their faces when they saw her, how happy she would be to see them again.

The silvery-blue mist-made wolf practically exploded from her wand. Avon jumped out of his seat, dropping the pillow he had been holding, looking terrified, fascinated, all at the same time. Lizza watched as her patronus bounded about the room, wagging it's tail and letting out yips of excitement.

Watching as it tumbled in mid-air as if in a play-fight, she suddenly realized how much she had missed the embodiment of her happiness. And suddenly, she realized how much she missed using her animagus form.

_Perhaps it's time I broke my wolfless streak._ She looked at Avon, who was now watching her patronus with wonder painted across his face. Was it too soon to show him she could transform?

_I miss being a wolf. I miss bounding around with four legs instead of two. I miss curling up in my bed to sleep instead of laying down. Would me turning into an animal be too much for him to take in _right _after I tell him that I'm a witch?_

She suddenly realized the irony of this internal conflict; about half an hour ago, she had though Avon was her secret enemy. Now she had told him she was a witch, and she was debating whether or not to tell him she could transform into a canine at will.

_You know what?_ she thought to herself,_ What the heck; it's been a long year._

"Hey, Avon?" she asked, turning to him, grinning. Her patronus disintegrated with a yip, and the red-headed vorta looked confused for a moment as he looked at her.

"What happened to it? What was it?" he pressed eagerly. _More irony_, she thought; he had been scared of her magic just a few moments ago.

"It was a patronus. I told it to stop." she explained. Now that she knew she wanted to show him her animagus form, she was too excited to wait. "Besides, I have another secret to show you..."

**Talparus means "chameleon" in Latin. **

** Stepe Quietus means "step silently"**

** Revelosa means "reveal" (duh)**

** Venitabo Ignavis should translate into "Come sing, Fire bird". I couldn't find the Latin word for _Phoenix_. **

** Anyway, how do you guys like the new Avon; he has personality and everything! You know, I kind of knew he was a puker from the start. I just never went through with it. Type out some reviews to our new-and-improved nervous wreck.**

**A-*Wow. I really never realized how much I need a therapist.***

**L-*Forget therapist; more like deep yoga, a diet of hot chocolate and James Bond, and frequent visists to spas and stress management classes. THAT is what you need, my friend.***

**A-*Hmmmmm. James Bond. I can't wait! ^^***

**READ AND REVIEW!**


	18. TROLLL!

**Alright, guys, so here the cheese. I'm not going to be updating for a while. Maybe not a lot a while. Some really big personal stuff happened on what has gone down in history as the worst Monday ever, so updates have kind of ground to a halt for now. Maybe I'll post something every once in a while, but other than that, I'm not going to editing any of the future chapters.**

**I will still continue re-writing the really bad old ones; chapter two is nearly finished, so at least you guys have that to look forwards to. Please don't kill me for putting up an author's note instead of an update. But I suppose I still have to give you guys Something for going through the agony of clicking all those links just to find a really stupid, evil author's note at the end of the tunnel...**

** Welp, I guess there's nothing else to it: I have to announce the next part of this fic.**

** Part two will be called _The War Ignites_. Just so you know, that name is not final; I might be changing it. **

** But hey, Lizza's name was a placeholder, too, and look what I'm still calling her. So you never really know.**

** But yeah, _The War Ignites_ will come after a short cooldown period after finishing _Lost, Missing, Found_, and Lizza's three-shot ficlett, the name of which has yet to be decided. I didn't get any ficlett requests, so decided on my own. And for those of you who are out of ideas for DS9 fics; come on down to my profile, I've got two of them. Just a warning, they are both crossovers. One is with Wings of Fire, the other is with Doctor Who.**

** Now, I suppose to further satiate you, I must give you a preview of _The War Ignites_. So... well, here we go.**

Oswin stared at the PD, aghast. Garak was giving her a "I can't believe that just happened" look. She looked at him with an "unbelievable" look on her face.

"He hung up on me!" she exclaimed.

"I'm a tad bit more worried about the 'explosions' part of the conversation." he replied.

"Oh!" she yelled frustratedly, running her hands through her hair as if she were thinking about pulling it out." I am going to _kill_ him!"

"You might not have to. But if you need any help, you know where to find me."

(title card, all dat fancy stuff)

**Well, now that you know _someone_** **made Oswin angry, goodbye!**

**Do review, as this personal stuff is BIG and really stressful, and I need a little encouragement. There is literally one user who reviews my fics(Shorty McGee, you're awesome), and it kind of gets me down sometimes that guest users have more courtesy than some registered ones.**

** This is Amberstar of Thunderclan, signing off with Lizza and Avon reacting to the Puppy-Monkey-Baby commercial!**

**L-*So, Avon; you know why Amberstar called us down here?***

**A-*No. I thought it was Jayfeattheris Awesome.***

**L-*Huh? Avon, we have 1 master; _1_. Why the heck would you come here if Jayfeatther told you to?***

**A-*Because I don't want her to kill me again.*:(**

**L-*Oh. Well, that's understanda-WAHT IN THE NAME OF TOLKIEN IS THAT!**points at TV***

***"puppy-monkey-baby. Puppy-monkey-baby. Puppy...monkey...baby. Puppy-monkey-baby"***

**A-*Screams, tries to clamber over the back of the couch.***

**L-*Stares, aghast, looking horrified, shakes head slowly.***

**So long, friends! ^^**


	19. Abandonment Issues

**PLEASE EVERYBODY READ THE ****_WHOLE_****THING!**

**Alright so this is REALLY SUPER IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO READ! In approximately ten days, this profile will be ABANDONED. All fics will slowly be transferred to a new profile, and when all is done, Jayfeattheris Awesome will change this profile's name to "AbandonedJay".**

**I have no idea if this is against the rules or not. But Jayfeattheris Awesome and I have been talking about it for a while now, and we've decided; it's time. Before our fics get too long and make the moves too tedious.**

**It was always the nuclear option, but we've decided that the moment has come to press the big red button. The profile glitch that has kept us from posting new fics has been going on for about two years now, and we're both beyond sick of it. There are so many idea that we have to put up on our profiles as adoptables because of this glitch. **

**So, anyway, we are shedding these creatively restrictive shells, and evolving into true fanfiction writers for the first time in two years. If you look at the early chapters of****_ The Rising Wind_****, and then chapters from later on, you'll see that Jay's matured as an author significantly. The same goes for me; read the first chapter of ****_Siblings_****, and you'll see nearly seven thousand words of a masterpiece. Then read chapter two; it's a mess. **

** _Siblings_, will, of course, be transferred to my new profile(YAY!). I will make my new profile AFTER Jayfeattheris Awesome has completely settled into her new profile. I will FINALLY be able to claim it as my own fic; no more sending Jay chapters, no more having to take time out of my day just to ask her to log on so I can edit my chapters or add to my authors notes. It will be completely under my own control, and I'm really excited about it.**

** If you've read Jayfeatther's version of this MAJOR author's note, then you'll know that I'm writing a one-shot series about Dax(a Star trek character, to those of you who are confused) in celebration of being able to post new fics again. Assuming, that is, that this dumb glitch doesn't haunt us in our new profiles as well. Basically, the whole concept of the _Siblings_ universe was built around the idea I had for Dax's one-shots. **

** So, ya'll have the origins of _Siblings_ to look forwards to.**

** FEAR NOT READERS! All fics WILL be re-posted on the new profiles. Unless those profiles have the blank page glitch as well; in which case, we might really be stuck on these profiles for a while, and we might also have an army of disused emails as well by the time we actually get a glitchless profile.**

** We'll start by re-favoriting all the fics an authors we like, then we'll move on to transferring all of our own fanfictions. We'll keep the originals up a little while longer after re-posting, just to be careful, and to give all of the favoriters and followers time to read this notice(just so you guys don't assume the fics were deleted forever).**

** Jayfeattheris Awesome's new profile has already been registered, and is currently named "NewJayfeatther". Yes, she kept the double "t". It, too, have registered my new profile, though I haven't started moving in yet, and it is, for now, known similarly as "NewAmber". My old one will, after turning "NewAmber" into "Amberstar of Thunderclan", be known as "AbandonedAmber".**

**"Amberstar of Thunderclan" will rise again once all the fics have been transferred, and the Bio has been updated. The fics will slowly but surely be updated back into their original forms. Partly because it is way too tedious to just update them all at once. Mostly, though, it's because transferring the fics will mean losing all the reviews they've been given, and by updating slowly instead of all at once, I'll be sure to reach more new readers, and therefore receive more reviews and new favoriters(don't worry; I still love you guys!)! I won't be too terribly drastic with Siblings, though: it's in a small category, with fairly few faithful readers.**

**Now you ****guys can go ahead and mourn or post your final reviews or what ever. On second thought, no, don't review; it's just pointless now that the fic is being transferred. **

** Jay will be abandoning her profile completely with the next two weeks or so, if all goes according to plan. She claims she'll be posting a Wings of Fire fic about Queen Grandeur to celebrate her new-found fic-posting capabilities. It'll probably take her a while though, cuz once she'll fully transferred, it'll be my turn. I drew the short straw, so she gets to move profiles first.**

**I've already mentioned that neither Jayfeatther nor I know whether or not what we're doing is against the rules. If it is, then we've yet to hear about it. So if you know for an ABSOLUTE FACT, that it is literally WRITTEN DOWN IN THE FANFICTION FOR DUMMIES HANDBOOK, that it is against the rules to abandon a profile and create a new one like this;**

**Let us know. We will admit our guilt once the move is over, but we will regret nothing, and we will NOT quit fanfiction. Please just, nobody report us, if it is against the rules; we are all bound by the brotherhood-and sisterhood-of fanfiction writing. What would YOU do, if you were put in our situation? Well, you'd probably email an administrator, I guess. But Jay and I were both fourteen when we made our profiles; back then, emails were known(through our parents' wisedom) to be cess-pools of spam and useless advertisements, and we created our emails with only one thing in mind:**

**Fanfiction profiles.**

**After we activated our profiles, we never used our emails again, really. We've never had to. And so, typically, both of our fourteen-year-old selves failed to write down what our passwords were. Really, at this point, it's been just over two years since then; even if I could remember the password to my very first email account, I don't think either of my computers-or my MacBook, for that matter-could handle two years worth of spam and fanfic administrator attempts to contact me(if they ever did). In fact, I don even wanna KNOW what that email looks like by now. After this move, I think I'll just pretend that it doesn't exist. Yeah, that'll work.**

**The glitch itself has been mentioned by us both on several chapters of different fics. I believe that we've also mentioned it somewhere on both our profiles, in the vain hopes that someone will read our Bios and recognize our plight. Basically, to those of you who have JUST found this fic, or if you never pay attention to begining-of-the-chapter author's notes, the glitch is this:**

**If I were to try to post a new fic, right now, I would click the "New Story" button, just like any other Fanfiction writer would. Then, I would select the category; Warriors, perhaps. Then, once I had selected that catagory, I would click the "Next" button. Then, instead of being greeted with whatever the next step in the fic-making process is(It's been so long, I can't even remember), the page would load in and be completely blank.**

**I was the first to experience this problem. Then, for some reason, it infected Jay's profile as well, after she agreed to post ****_Siblings_**** on her profile for me. As you can see, that fic instead replace a botched Wings of Fire dragon guide to dragon tribes that only existed in her head. ****_Heart of the Wolf_**** met this very same fate recently, as well. It was replaced by the new Warriors fic we put up, ****_The Darkness, The Lightning, The Streams, And The Breeze_****.**

**Now, if you go onto either of our profiles, you will see at least four fic ideas posed up as adoptable ideas. Most of mine are things that we had ideas for, but didn't feel like writing ourselves. But one or two of them are up there because we can't post them. They're still up there, so PM us if you're interested in any of them. I worked on one of my adoptables for a little while before putting the idea up on my profile.**

**These glitched profiles have restrained our creative processes for too long; we're breaking free, regardless of what the rules could say. If anyone who reads this, by chance, has experienced this same glitch, then I hope you manage to find a solution before it comes to this. The profile transfers will be long, tedious, and boring, but will hopefully eventually be worth it.**

**"NewJayfeatther" has been registered, but we won't know for sure until Tuesday, because new users have to wait twelve hours until they can start posting fics, and we'll both be away in an internet-free zone over the long weekend. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed, and hope for the best. I might even put in a little side-note to God during my bedtime prayers tonight.**

**Goodness knows, I could use a little divine intervention, what with the week Jay and I have been having. Truth is, we're kind of winging this whole operation; we've been talking about it for a while, but we had planned to at least write a little bit of our new fics before going ahead with this thing.**

** Probably the most ironic thing right now is that this fic has more views on it today than it has all month.**

**Operation: Press The Big, Red, Button is a go.**

**This is Amberstar of Thunderclan, signing off for a very longtime!**


End file.
